CH$STL REGIS
BIB, MAJ,
fOBONTON
ST JOHN DAMASCENE
Smprtmatur
HERBERTUS CARDINALIS VAUGHAN
ARCHIEPISCOPUS WESTMONASTERIENSIS
Die 12 Augusti 1898
ST JOHN DAMASCENE
ON
HOLY IMAGES
(TT/OO? TOU? SiaftaXXovras rcf? ay /a? eiicd
FOLLOWED BY
THREE SERMONS ON THE ASSUMPTION
(KOI//. ?/o-i 9)
TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL GREEK
BY
MARY H. ALLIES
COLL, CHRISTI REOIS
BIBv MAJ,
TORONTON
Xon&on
THOMAS BAKER
i SOHO SQUARE, W.
1898
2077 0
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE
A TREATISE on Images will not be out of place
in a public, which is confusing the making of
images with the making of idols. A great
Christian of the eighth century found himself
called upon to face an imperial Iconoclast. He
would willingly have remained silent, but he
would not bury his talent of eloquence. He
brought it forth and witnessed to the teaching
of the Church in language which present
' exciting scenes ' in Anglican churches brings
home in the most forcible way. Our English
image breakers are in the camp of Leo the
I saurian, who in the eighth century waged war
against holy images, on the plausible pretext
that they withdrew honour from God. The
seventh General Council condemned his as
sault, and it determined the different kinds of
worship, using the Greek terms of latreia and
douleia. The special champion of holy Images
is St John Damascene, whose treatise is now
Vlii PREFACE
published for the first time in English. Every
article in the creed has its special defender.
St John Damascene proclaims the Communion
of Saints and the honour of God through His
chosen and favoured servants. No part of
Catholic belief is a vain word, nor can the true
children of the Church say with their lips what
they do not hold in their hearts. I believe in
the Communion of Saints follows upon I
believe in God, so that the enemies of the
Saints are the enemies of God. This is the
doctrine which St John Damascene traces back
to the eternal ages before time was, in the
divine «KCOI/ of the Father in the Person of the
Son. God, the Son, is the Image by essence,
and then He becomes a visible image or form
in time, clothed in flesh and blood, showing us
by His own example that our worship of God
is through corporeal things. Again and again
the Saint repeats that as we must not make an
image of the Invisible God, so neither must we
refuse to look upon the Son, His Image, first
in eternity, and then Incarnate.
What are the consequences of rejecting
divinely appointed images? Hopeless and
heart-destroying doubt caused by the undue
PREFACE IX
exaltation of humanity : in other words, creature,
instead of divine, worship. We are so con
stituted that images we must have : our minds
cannot reach God's throne without the help of
corporeal things. Agnosticism has said it. We
cannot love what we do not know, and is not
God unknowable ? Halting formularies say it
when they point to matter, which God has
glorified, as inglorious. And halting formularies
lead to halting souls, and to the proclamation
of the strange device that religious truth is of
no consequence so long as men lead good lives.
The sermons on the Assumption were
preached by the Saint in or about A.D. 727.
According to Alban Butler, he had special
reasons for honouring the Mother of God.
By her intercession he regained the use of his
strong right hand. It was a practical demon
stration of Catholic teaching, We reach God
most surely through those who love Him best,
and thus the Protestant phrase, which ex
presses a purely Catholic thought * straight to
God,' is exemplified in the Communion of
Saints. St John's language about the QcoroKrj
will astonish those who stigmatise the love of
her as a ' Roman corruption.' The crowning
PREFACE
triumph of the Assumption follows justly on
the divine maternity. Her body was all pure,
because her all holy (-n-avayia) soul made it the
resting-place of our Lord. The Mother is so
identified with the Son that her life is part of
His. The tomb is not for her, and thus the
writer of the eighth century bears full testimony
to Catholic tradition.
All believers are at one in wishing to reach
God ; the question is one of detail. Which is
the shortest road ? St John Damascene speaks
with the Church when he says it is through the
glorification of matter in the Person of the
Eternal Word. Either give matter its proper
place, or take away matter which the Lord
Himself has exalted, and we are no longer
composite beings, but spirits ill at ease in a
material world. Take away the King's army,
and you uncrown the King Himself. Forget
His Mother, and with her the connecting link
between earth and heaven. Then we may be
heathens once more, groping after the unknown
God, and our latter state will be more appalling
than the heathendom of old, before the light
had appeared to illumine earth's dark places.
CONTENTS
PAGE
PART I. APOLOGIA OF ST JOHN DAMASCENE
AGAINST THOSE WHO DECRY HOLY
IMAGES . -I
„ II. THE SAME . 55
„ III. THE SAME . 87
SERMON I. ON THE ASSUMPTION . ,147
„ II. THE SAME • I71
„ III. THE SAME . • • .201
XI
PART I.
APOLOGIA OF ST JOHN DAMASCENE AGAINST
THOSE WHO DECRY HOLY IMAGES.
WITH the ever-present conviction of my own
unworthiness, I ought to have kept silence and
confessed my shortcomings before God, but all
things are good at the right time. I see the
Church which God founded on the Apostles
and Prophets, its corner-stone being Christ His
Son, tossed on an angry sea, beaten by rushing
waves, shaken and troubled by the assaults of
evil spirits. I see rents in the seamless robe of
Christ, which impious men have sought to part
asunder, and His body cut into pieces, that is,
the word of God and the ancient tradition of
the Church. Therefore I have judged it un
reasonable to keep silence and to hold my
tongue, bearing in mind the Scripture warn
ing : — 'If thou withdrawest thyself, my soul
shall not delight in thee,' and * If thou seest
ST JOHN DAMASCENE
the sword coming and dost not warn thy
brother, I shall require his blood at thy hand.'
Fear, then, compelled me to speak ; the truth
was stronger than the majesty of kings. * I
bore testimony to Thee before kings,' I heard
the royal * David saying, * and I was ' not
ashamed. No, I was the more incited to
speak. The King's command is all powerful
over his subjects. For few men have hitherto
been found who, whilst recognising the power
of the earthly king to come from above, have
resisted his unlawful demands.
In the first place, grasping as a kind of
pillar, or foundation, the teaching of the Church,
which is our salvation, I have opened out its
meaning, giving, as it were, the reins to a well-
caparisoned charger.")" For I look upon it as a
great calamity that the Church, adorned with
her great privileges and the holiest examples of
saints in the past, should go back to the first
rudiments, and fear where there is no fear. It
is disastrous to suppose that the Church does
not know God as He is, that she degenerates
into idolatry, for if she declines from perfection
* Qeo-n-arup, not easily rendered in English.
f Kai TOVTOV ticrirep 'itrirov eiV^dAfi'OP , TTJS dfierypta.?
TREATISE ON IMAGES
in a single iota, it is as an enduring mark on a
comely face, destroying by its unsightliness the
beauty of the whole. A small thing is not
small when it leads to something great, nor
indeed is it a thing of no matter to give up the
ancient tradition of the Church held by our
forefathers, whose conduct we should observe,
and whose faith we should imitate.
In the first place, then, before speaking to
you, I beseech Almighty God, to whom all
things lie open, who knows my small capacity
and my genuine intention, to bless the words
of my mouth, and to enable me to bridle my
mind and direct it to Him, to walk in His
presence straightly, not declining to a plausible
right hand, nor knowing the left. Then I ask
all God's people, the chosen ones of His royal
priesthood, with the holy shepherd of Christ's
orthodox flock, who represents in his own
person Christ's priesthood, to receive my
treatise with kindness. They must not dwell
on my unworthiness, nor seek for eloquence,
for I am only too conscious of my shortcom
ings. They must consider the thoughts them
selves. The kingdom of heaven is not in word
but in deed. Conquest is not my object. I
ST JOHN DAMASCENE
raise a hand which is fighting for the truth — a
willing hand under the divine guidance. Rely
ing, then, upon substantial truth as my auxiliary,
I will enter on my subject matter.
I have taken heed to the words of Truth
Himself: — 'The Lord thy God is one.' And
' Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and shalt
serve Him only, and thou shalt not have
strange gods.' Again, ' Thou shalt not make
to thyself a graven thing, nor the likeness of
anything that is in heaven above, or in the
earth beneath ' ; and ' Let them be all con
founded that adore graven things.' Again,
' The gods that have not made heaven and
earth, let them perish,' In this way God spoke
of old to the patriarchs through the prophets,
and lastly, through His only-begotten Son, on
whose account He made the ages. He says,
' This is eternal life, that they may know Thee,
the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom
Thou didst send.' I believe in one God, the
source of all things, without beginning, un
created, immortal, everlasting, incomprehen
sible, bodiless, invisible, uncircumscribed,* with
out form. I believe in one supersubstantial
s, i.e., not in place.
TREATISE ON IMAGES 5
being, one divine Godhead in three entities,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost,
and I adore Him alone with the worship
of latreia. I adore one God, one Godhead
but three Persons, God the Father, God the
Son made flesh, and God the Holy Ghost, one
God. I do not adore creation more than the
Creator, but I adore the creature created as I
am, adopting creation freely and spontaneously
that He might elevate our nature and make us
partakers of His divine nature. Together with
my Lord and King I worship Him clothed in
the flesh, not as if it were a garment or He
constituted a fourth person of the Trinity —
God forbid. That flesh is divine, and endures
after its assumption. Human nature was not
lost in the Godhead, but just as the Word
made flesh remained the Word, so flesh became
the Word remaining flesh, becoming, rather,
one with the Word through union (/caO' VTTOV-
Taviv). Therefore I venture to draw an image
of the invisible God, not as invisible, but as
having become visible for our sakes through
flesh and blood. I do not draw an image of
the immortal Godhead. I paint the visible
flesh of God, for it is impossible to represent
ST JOHN DAMASCENE
a spirit (\^uxi), how much more God who gives
breath to the spirit.
Now adversaries say : God's commands to
Moses the law-giver were, ' Thou shalt adore
the Lord thy God, and thou shalt worship him
alone, and thou shalt not make to thyself a
graven thing that is in heaven above, or in the
earth beneath.'
They err truly, not knowing the Scriptures,
for the letter kills whilst the spirit quickens —
not finding in the letter the hidden meaning.
I could say to these people, with justice, He
who taught you this would teach you the
following. Listen to the law-giver's interpreta
tion in Deuteronomy : ' And the Lord spoke
to you from the midst of the fire. You heard
the voice of His words, but you saw not any
form at all.' And shortly afterwards : ' Keep
your souls carefully. You saw not any simili
tude in the day that the Lord God spoke to
you in Horeb from the midst of the fire, lest
perhaps being deceived you might make you a
graven similitude, or image of male and female,
the similitude of any beasts that are upon the
earth, or of birds that fly under heaven.' And
again, ' Lest, perhaps, lifting up thy eyes to
TREATISE ON IMAGES
heaven, thou see the sun and the moon, and
all the stars of heaven, and being deceived by
error thou adore and serve them.'
You see the one thing to be aimed at is not
to adore a created thing more than the Creator,
nor to give the worship of latreia except to
Him alone. By worship, consequently, He
always understands the worship of latreia.
For, again, He says : * Thou shalt not have
strange gods other than Me. Thou shalt not
make to thyself a graven thing, nor any
similitude. Thou shalt not adore them, and
thou shalt not serve them, for I am the Lord
thy God.' And again, * Overthrow their altars,
and break down their statues ; burn their groves
with fire, and break their idols in pieces. For
thou shalt not adore a strange god.' And
a little further on : ' Thou shalt not make to
thyself gods of metal.'
You see that He forbids image-making on
account of idolatry, and that it is impossible to
make an image of the immeasurable, un-
circumscribed, invisible God. You have not
seen the likeness of Him, the Scripture says,
and this was St Paul's testimony as he stood in
the midst of the Areopagus : ' Being, therefore,
8 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
the offspring of God, we must not suppose the
divinity to be like unto gold, or silver, or stone,
the graving of art, and device of man.'
These injunctions were given to the Jews on
account of their proneness to idolatry. Now
we, on the contrary, are no longer in leading
strings. Speaking theologically, it is given to
us to avoid superstitious error, to be with God
in the knowledge of the truth, to worship God
alone, to enjoy the fulness of His knowledge.
We have passed the stage of infancy, and
reached the perfection of manhood. We receive
our habit of mind from God, and know what
may be imaged and what may not. The
Scripture says, ' You have not seen the likeness
of Him.' What wisdom in the law-giver. How
depict the invisible ? How picture the in
conceivable? How give expression to the
limitless, the immeasurable, the invisible?
How give a form to immensity? How paint
immortality? How localise mystery? It is
clear that when you contemplate God, who is
a pure spirit, becoming man for your sake,
you will be able to clothe Him with the human
form. When the Invisible One becomes visible
to flesh, you may then draw a likeness of His
TREATISE ON IMAGES
form. When He who is a pure spirit, without
form or limit, immeasurable in the boundless
ness of His own nature, existing as God, takes
upon Himself the form of a servant in substance
and in stature, and a body of flesh, then you
may draw His likeness, and show it to anyone
willing to contemplate it. Depict His ineffable
condescension, His virginal birth, His baptism
in the Jordan, His transfiguration on Thabor,
His all-powerful sufferings, His death and
miracles, the proofs of His Godhead, the deeds
which He worked in the flesh through divine
power, His saving Cross, His Sepulchre, and
resurrection, and ascent into heaven. Give to
it all the endurance of engraving and colour.
Have no fear or anxiety ; worship is not all of
the same kind. Abraham worshipped the sons
of Emmor, impious men in ignorance of God,
when he bought the double cave for a tomb.
Jacob worshipped his brother Esau and Pharao,
the Egyptian, but on the point of his staff.*
He worshipped, he did not adore. Josue and
Daniel worshipped an angel of God ; they did
not adore him. The worship of latreia is one
thing, and the worship which is given to merit
xai eiri T& &Kpov TTjs pdj3dov.
10 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
another. Now, as we are talking of images
and worship, let us analyse the exact meaning
of each. An image is a likeness of the original
with a certain difference, for it is not an exact
reproduction of the original. Thus, the Son is
the living, substantial, unchangeable Image of
the invisible God, bearing in Himself the whole
Father, being in all things equal to Him, differ
ing only in being begotten by the Father, who
is the Begetter ; the Son is begotten. The
Father does not proceed from the Son, but the
Son from the Father. It is through the Son,
though not after Him, that He is what He
is, the Father who generates. In God, too,
there are representations and images of His
future acts, — that is to say, His counsel from
all eternity, which is ever unchangeable. That
which is divine is immutable ; there is no
change in Him, nor shadow of change.
Blessed Denis (the Carthusian) who has made
divine things in God's presence his study, says
that these representations and images are
marked out beforehand. In His counsels, God
has noted and settled all that He would do, the
unchanging future events before they came to
pass. In the same way, a man who wished to
TREATISE ON IMAGES I I
build a house, would first make and think out
a plan. Again, visible things are images of
invisible and intangible things, on which they
throw a faint light. Holy Scripture clothes in
figure God and the angels, and the same holy
man (Blessed Denis) explains why. When
sensible things sufficiently render what is
beyond sense, and give a form to what is
intangible, a medium would be reckoned
imperfect according to our standard, if it did
not fully represent material vision, or if it
required effort of mind. If, therefore, Holy
Scripture, providing for our need, ever putting
before us what is intangible, clothes it in flesh,
does it not make an image of what is thus
invested with our nature, and brought to the
level of our desires, yet invisible ? A certain
conception through the senses thus takes place
in the brain, which was not there before, and is
transmitted to the judicial faculty, and added to
the mental store. Gregory, who is so eloquent
about God, says that the mind which is set
upon getting beyond corporeal things, is in
capable of doing it. For the invisible things of
God since the creation of the world are made
visible through images. We see images in
I 2 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
creation which remind us faintly of God, as
when, for instance, we speak of the holy and
adorable Trinity, imaged by the sun, or light,
or burning rays, or by a running fountain, or a
full river, or by the mind, speech, or the spirit
within us, or by a rose tree, or a sprouting
flower, or a sweet fragrance.
Again, an image is expressive of something
in the future, mystically shadowing forth what
is to happen. For instance, the ark represents
the image of Our Lady, Mother of God,* so
does the staff and the earthen jar. The serpent
brings before us Him who vanquished on the
Cross the bite of the original serpent ; the sea,
water, and the cloud the grace of baptism.
Again, things which have taken place are
expressed by images for the remembrance
either of a wonder, or an honour, or dishonour,
or good or evil, to help those who look upon
it in after times that we may avoid evils and
imitate goodness. It is of two kinds, the
written image in books, as when God had the
law inscribed on tablets, and when He enjoined
that the lives of holy men should be recorded
and sensible memorials be preserved in re-
* Trjv ayiav irapOtvov /cat OCOTOKOV.
TREATISE ON IMAGES 13
membrance ; as, for instance, the earthen jar
and the staff in the ark. So now we preserve
in writing the images and the good deeds of
the past. Either, therefore, take away images
altogether and be out of harmony with God
who made these regulations, or receive them
with the language and in the manner which
befits them. In speaking of the manner let us
go into the question of worship.
Worship is the symbol of veneration and of
honour. Let us understand that there are
different degrees of worship. First of all the
worship of latreia, which we show to God, who
alone by nature is worthy of worship. Then,
for the sake of God who is worshipful by
nature, we honour His saints and servants, as
Josue and Daniel worshipped an angel, and
David His holy places, when he says, ' Let
us go to the place where His feet have stood.'
Again, in His tabernacles, as when all the
people of Israel adored in the tent, and stand
ing round the temple in Jerusalem, fixing their
gaze upon it from all sides, and worshipping
from that day to this, or in the rulers estab
lished by Him, as Jacob rendered homage to
Esau, his elder brother, and to Pharao, the
14 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
divinely established ruler. Joseph was wor
shipped by his brothers. I am aware that
worship was based on honour, as in the case
of Abraham and the sons of Emmor. Either,
then, do away with worship, or receive it alto
gether according to its proper measure.
Answer me this question. Is there only one
God ? You answer, ' Yes, there is only one
Law-giver.' Why, then, does He command
contrary things ? The cherubim are not out
side of creation ; why, then, does He allow
cherubim carved by the hand of man to over
shadow the mercy-seat? Is it not evident that
as it is impossible to make an image of God,
who is uncircumscribed and impassible, or of
one like to God, creation should not be
worshipped as God. He allows the image of
the cherubim who are circumscribed,* and
prostrate in adoration before the divine throne,
to be made, and thus prostrate to overshadow
the mercy-seat. It was fitting that the image
of the heavenly choirs should overshadow the
divine mysteries. Would you say that the ark
and staff and mercy-seat were not made ? Are
* A reference to the question treated by St Thomas
after St John Damascene : utrum angelus sit in loco.
TREATISE ON IMAGES 15
they not produced by the hand of man ? Are
they not due to what you call contemptible
matter? What was the tabernacle itself?
Was it not an image ? Was it not a type
and a figure? Hence the holy Apostle's words
concerning the observances of the law, ' Who
serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly
things.' As it was answered to Moses, when
he was to finish the tabernacle: 'See' (He
says), ' that thou make all things according to
the pattern which was shown thee on the
Mount.' But the law was not an image. It
shrouded the image. In the words of the same
Apostle, the law contains the shadow of the
goods to come, not the image of those things.
For if the law should forbid images, and yet be
itself a forerunner of images, what should we
say? If the tabernacle was a figure, and the
type of a type, why does the law not prohibit
image-making? But this is not in the least
the case. There is a time for everything.
Of old, God the incorporeal and uncircum-
scribed was never depicted. Now, however,
when God is seen clothed in flesh, and con
versing with men, I make an image of the
God whom I see. I do not worship matter, I
1 6 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
worship the God of matter, who became
matter for my sake, and deigned to inhabit
matter, who worked out my salvation through
matter. I will not cease from honouring that
matter which works my salvation. I venerate
it, though not as God. How could God be
born out of lifeless things ? And if God's body
is God by union (KaO' vTroa-raa-iv), it is immutable.
The nature of God remains the same as before,
the flesh created in time is quickened by a
logical and reasoning soul. I honour all matter
besides, and venerate it. Through it, filled, as
it were, with a divine power and grace, my
salvation has come to me. Was not the thrice
happy and thrice blessed wood of the Cross
matter ? Was not the sacred and holy mountain
of Calvary matter ? What of the life-giving
rock, the Holy Sepulchre, the source of our
resurrection : was it not matter ? Is not the
most holy book of the Gospels matter? Is not
the blessed table matter which gives us the
Bread of Life ? Are not the gold and silver
matter, out of which crosses and altar-plate and
chalices are made ? And before all these
things, is not the body and blood of our Lord
matter? Either do away with the veneration
TREATISE ON IMAGES 1 7
and worship due to all these things, or submit
to the tradition of the Church in the worship of
images, honouring God and His friends, and
following in this the grace of the Holy Spirit.
Do not despise matter, for it is not despicable.
Nothing is that which God has made. This is
the Manichean heresy. That alone is despic
able which does not come from God, but is
our own invention, the spontaneous choice of
will to disregard the natural law, — that is to
say, sin. If, therefore, you dishonour and give
up images, because they are produced by
matter, consider what the Scripture says : And
the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ' Behold
I have called by name Beseleel, the son of Uri,
the son of Hur, of the tribe of Juda. And I have
filled him with the spirit of God, with wisdom
and understanding, and knowledge in all
manner of work. To devise whatsoever may
be artificially made of gold, and silver, and
brass, of marble and precious stones, and
variety of wood. And I have given him for
his companion, Ooliab, the son of Achisamech,
of the tribe of Dan. And I have put wisdom
in the heart of every skilful man, that they may
make all things which I have commanded thee.'
1 8 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
And again : ' Moses said to all the assembly of
the children of Israel : This is the word the
Lord hath commanded, saying : Set aside with
you first fruits to the Lord. Let every one
that is willing and hath a ready heart, offer
them to the Lord, gold, and silver, and brass,
violet, and purple, and scarlet twice dyed, and
fine linen, goat's hair, and ram's skins died red
and violet, coloured skins, selim-wood, and oil
to maintain lights and to make ointment, and
most sweet incense, onyx stones, and precious
stones for the adorning of the ephod and the
rational. Whosoever of you is wise, let him
come, and make that which the Lord hath
commanded.' See you here the glorification
of matter which you make inglorious. What
is more insignificant than goat's hair or colours ?
Are not scarlet and purple and hyacinth colours ?
Now, consider the handiwork of man becoming
the likeness of the cherubim. How, then, can
you make the law a pretence for giving up
what it orders? If you invoke it against
images, you should keep the Sabbath, and
practise circumcision. It is certain that 'if
you observe the law, Christ will not profit
you. You who are justified in the law, you
TREATISE ON IMAGES 19
are fallen from grace.' Israel of old did not see
God, but we see the Lord's glory face to face.
We proclaim Him also by our senses on all
sides, and we sanctify the noblest sense, which
is that of sight. The image is a memorial, just
what words are to a listening ear. What a
book is to the literate, that an image is to the
illiterate. The image speaks to the sight as
words to the ear ; it brings us understanding.
Hence God ordered the ark to be made of
imperishable wood, and to be gilded outside
and in, and the tablets to be put in it, and the
staff and the golden urn containing the manna,
for a remembrance of the past and a type of the
future. Who can say these were not images
and far-sounding heralds ? And they did not
hang on the walls of the tabernacle ; but in
sight of all the people who looked towards
them, they were brought forward for the
worship and adoration of God, who made
use of them. It is evident that they were not
worshipped for themselves, but that the people
were led through them to remember past signs,
and to worship the God of wonders. They
were images to serve as recollections, not divine,
but leading to divine things by divine power.
20 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
And God ordered twelve stones to be taken
out of the Jordan, and specified why. For he
says : ' When your son asks you the meaning
of these stones, tell him how the water left the
Jordan by the divine command, and how the
ark was saved and the whole people.' How,
then, shall we not record on image the saving
pains and wonders of Christ our Lord, so that
when my child asks me, ' What is this ? ' I
may say, that God the WTord became man, and
that for His sake not Israel alone passed
through the Jordan, but all the human race
gained their original happiness. Through
Him human nature rose from the lowest
depths of the earth higher than the skies, and
in His Person sat down on the throne His
Father had prepared for Him.
But the adversary says : ' Make an image of
Christ or of His mother who bore Him (r?}?
OeoroKov), and let that be sufficient.' O what
folly this is ! On your own showing, you are
absolutely against the saints. For if you make
an image of Christ and not of the saints, it is
evident that you do not disown images, but
the honour of the saints. You make statues
indeed of Christ as of one glorified, whilst you
TREATISE ON IMAGES 21
reject the saints as unworthy of honour, and
call truth a falsehood. * I live,' says the Lord,
' and I will glorify those who glorify Me.'
And the divine Apostle : therefore now he is
not a servant, but a son. ' And if a son, an
heir also through God.' Again, ' If we suffer
with Him, that we also may be glorified:'
you are not waging war against images, but
against the saints. St John, who rested on
His breast, says, that we shall be like to Him :
just as a man by contact with fire becomes
fire, not by nature, but by contact and by
burning and by participation, so is it, I appre
hend, with the flesh of the Crucified Son of
God. That flesh, by participation through
union (/ca0' virocrraa-iv) with the divine nature,
was unchangeably God, not in virtue of grace
from God as was the case with each of the
prophets, but by the presence of the Fountain
Head Himself. God, the Scripture says,
stood in the synagogue of the gods, so that the
saints, too, are gods. Holy Gregory takes the
words, ' God stands in the midst of the gods,'
to mean that He discriminates their several
merits. The saints in their lifetime were
filled with the Holy Spirit, and when they are
22 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
no more, His grace abides with their spirits
and with their bodies in their tombs, and also
with their likenesses and holy images, not by
nature, but by grace and divine power.
God charged David to build Him a temple
through his son, and to prepare a place of rest.
Solomon, in building the temple, made the
cherubim, as the book of Kings says. And he
encompassed the cherubim with gold, and all
the walls in a circle, and he had the cherubim
carved, and palms inside and out, in a circle,
not from the sides, be it observed. And there
were bulls and lions and pomegranates. Is it
not more seemly to decorate all the walls of
the Lord's house with holy forms and images
rather than with beasts and plants ? Where is
the law declaring ' thou shalt not make any
graven image ' ? But Solomon receiving the
gift of wisdom, imaging heaven, made the
cherubim, and the likenesses of bulls and lions,
which the law forbade. Now if we make a
statue of Christ, and likenesses of the saints,
does not their being filled with the Holy Ghost
increase the piety of our homage ? As then
the people and the temple were purified in
blood and in burnt offerings, so now the Blood
TREATISE ON IMAGES 23
of Christ giving testimony under Pontius
Pilate, and being Himself the first fruits of
the martyrs, the Church is built up on the
blood of the saints. Then the signs and
forms of lifeless animals figured forth the
human tabernacle, the martyrs themselves
whom they were preparing for God's abode.
We depict Christ as our King and Lord,
and do not deprive Him of His army. The
saints constitute the Lord's army. Let the
earthly king dismiss his army before he gives
up his King and Lord. Let him put off the
purple before he takes honour away from his
most valiant men who have conquered their
passions. For if the saints are heirs of God,
and co-heirs of Christ, they will be also par
takers of the divine glory of sovereignty. If
the friends of God have had a part in the
sufferings of Christ, how shall they not receive
a share of His glory even on earth? 'I call
you not servants,' our Lord says, 'you are my
friends.' Should we then deprive them of the
honour given to them by the Church ? What
audacity ! What boldness of mind, to fight God
and His commands ! You, who refuse to
worship images, would not worship the Son of
24 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
God, the Living Image of the invisible God,
and His unchanging form. I worship the
image of Christ as the Incarnate God ; that
of Our Lady (rfc OGOTOKOV), the Mother of us
all, as the Mother of God's Son ; that of the
saints as the friends of God. They have with
stood sin unto blood, and followed Christ in
shedding their blood for Him, who shed His
blood for them. I put on record the excel
lencies and the sufferings of those who have
walked in His footsteps, that I may sanctify
myself, and be fired with the zeal of imitation.
St Basil says, ' Honouring the image leads to
the prototype.' If you raise churches to the
saints of God, raise also their trophies. The
temple of old was not built in the name of
any man. The death of the just was a cause
of tears, not of feasting. A man who touched
a corpse was considered unclean, even if the
corpse was Moses himself. But now the
memories of the saints are kept with rejoicings.
The dead body of Jacob was wept over, whilst
there is joy over the death of Stephen. There
fore, either give up the solemn commemora
tions of the saints, which are not according
to the old law, or accept images which are
TREATISE ON IMAGES 25
also against it, as you say. But it is impossible
not to keep with rejoicing the memories of the
saints. The Holy Apostles and Fathers are at
one in enjoining them. From the time that
God the Word became flesh He is as we are
in everything except sin, and of our nature,
without confusion. He has deified our flesh
for ever, and we are in very deed sanctified
through His Godhead and the union of His
flesh with it. And from the time that God,
the Son of God, impassible by reason of His
Godhead, chose to suffer voluntarily He wiped
out our debt, also paying for us a most full
and noble ransom. We are truly free through
the sacred blood of the Son pleading for us
with the Father. And we are indeed delivered
from corruption since He descended into hell
to the souls detained there through centuries
and gave the captives their freedom, sight to
the blind, and chaining the strong one.* He
rose in the plenitude of His power, keeping the
flesh of immortality which He had taken for
us. And since we have been born again of
water and the Spirit, we are truly sons and
heirs of God. Hence St Paul calls the faithful
* Screts rbv
26 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
holy ; hence we do not grieve but rejoice over
the death of the saints. We are then no
longer under grace, being justified through
faith, and knowing the one true God. The
just man is not bound by the law. We are
not held by the letter of the law, nor do we
serve as children, but grown into the perfect
estate of man we are fed on solid food, not
on that which conduces to idolatry. The law
is good as a light shining in a dark place
until the day breaks. Your hearts have already
been illuminated, the living water of God's
knowledge has run over the tempestuous seas
of heathendom, and we may all know God.
The old creation has passed away, and all
things are renovated. The holy Apostle Paul
said to St Peter, the chief of the Apostles : *
' If you, being a Jew, live as a heathen and
not a Jew, how will you persuade heathens
to do as Jews do ? ' And to the Galatians :
* I will bear witness to every circumcised man
that it is salutary to fulfil the whole law.'
Of old they who did not know God, wor
shipped false gods. But now, knowing God,
or rather being known by Him, how can we
* TTTfV KOpV<j)aia.V
TREATISE ON IMAGES 27
return to bare and naked rudiments ? I have
looked upon the human form of God, and my
soul has been saved. I gaze upon the image
of God, as Jacob did, though in a different
way. Jacob sounded the note of the future,
seeing with immaterial sight, whilst the image
of Him who is visible to flesh is burnt into my
soul. The shadow and winding sheet and relics
of the apostles cured sickness, and put demons
to flight. How, then, shall not the shadow
and the statues of the saints be glorified ?
Either do away with the worship of all matter,
or be not an innovator. Do not disturb the
boundaries of centuries, put up by your fathers.
It is not in writing only that they have be
queathed to us the tradition of the Church, but
also in certain unwritten examples. In the
twenty-seventh book of his work, in thirty
chapters addressed to Amphilochios concern
ing the Holy Spirit, St Basil says, * In the
cherished teaching and dogmas of the Church,
we hold some things by written documents ;
others we have received in mystery from the
apostolical tradition.' Both are of equal value
for the soul's growth. No one will dispute
this who has considered even a little the dis-
28 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
cipline of the Church. For if we neglect un
written customs, as not having much weight,
we bury in oblivion the most pertinent facts
connected with the Gospel. These are the
great Basil's words. How do we know the
Holy place of Calvary, or the Holy Sepulchre ?
Does it not rest on a tradition handed clown
from father to son? It is written that our
Lord was crucified on Calvary, and buried in
a tomb, which Joseph hewed out of the rock ;
but it is unwritten tradition which identifies
these spots, and does more things of the same
kind. Whence come the three immersions
at baptism, praying with face turned towards
the east, and the tradition of the mysteries ? *
Hence St Paul says, Therefore, brethren, stand
fast, and hold the traditions which you have
learned either by word, or by our epistle. As,
then, so much has been handed down in the
Church, and is observed down to the present
day, why disparage images ?
If you bring forward certain practices, they
do not inculpate our worship of images, but
the worship of heathens who make them
idols. Because heathens do it foolishly, this
* TO. 6eia nvar-ripia — the Mass.
TREATISE ON IMAGES 2Q
is no reason for objecting to our pious practice.
If the same magicians and sorcerers use sup
plication, so does the Church with catechumens ;
the former invoke devils, but the Church calls
upon God against devils. Heathens have
raised up images to demons, whom they call
gods. Now we have raised them to the one
Incarnate God, to His servants and friends,
who are proof against the diabolical hosts.
If, again, you object that the great Epipha-
nius thoroughly rejected images, I would say
in the first place the work in question is ficti
tious and unauthentic. It bears the name of
some one who did not write it, which used to
be commonly done. Secondly, we know that
blessed Athanasius objected to the bodies of
saints being put into chests, and that he
preferred their burial in the ground, wishing
to set at nought the strange custom of the
Egyptians, who did not bury their dead under
ground, but set them upon beds and couches.
Thus, supposing that he really wrote this work,
the great Epiphanius, wishing to correct some
thing of the same kind, ordered that images
should not be used. The proof that he did
not object to images, is to be found in his
3O ST JOHN DAMASCENE
own church, which is adorned with images
to this day. Thirdly, the exception is not a
law to the Church, neither does one swallow
make summer, as it seems to Gregory the
theologian, and to the truth. Neither can one
expression overturn the tradition of the whole
Church which is spread throughout the world.
Accept, therefore, the teaching of Scripture
and spiritual writers. If the Scripture does call
the idols of heathens silver and gold, and the
works of man's hand, it does not forbid the
adoration of inanimate things, or man's handi
work, but the adoration of demons.
We have seen that prophets worshipped
angels, and men, and kings, and the impious,
and even a staff. David says, ' And you
adore His footstool.' I saias, speaking in God's
name, says, ' The heavens are my throne, and
the earth my footstool.' Now, it is evident to
every one that the heavens and the earth are
created things. Moses, too, and Aaron with
all the people adored the work of hands. St
Paul, the golden grasshopper * of the Church,
says in his Epistle to the Hebrews, ' But
Christ being come, a high priest of the good
* rerrtf.
TREATISE ON IMAGES 3!
things to come, by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle not made by hand/ that is ' not of
this creation.' And, again, ' For Jesus is not
entered into the Holies made by hands, the
patterns of the true ; but into heaven itself.'
Thus the former holy things, the tabernacle,
and everything within it, were made by hands,
and no one denies that they were adored.
AUTHENTIC TESTIMONY OF ANCIENT FATHERS
IN FAVOUR OF IMAGES.
St Denis the Areopagite. From his Letter
to Bishop Titus.
Instead of attaching the common conception
to images, we should look upon what they
symbolise, and not despise the divine mark and
character which they portray, as sensible images
of mysterious and heavenly visions.
Commentary. — Mark that he cautions us not
to despise sacred images.
The Same, ' On the Names of God. '
We have taken the same line. On the one
side, through the veiled language of Scripture
and the help of oral tradition, intellectual things
are understood through sensible ones, and the
32 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
things above nature by the things that are.
Forms are given to what is intangible and
without shape, and immaterial perfection is
clothed and multiplied in a variety of different
symbols.
Commentary. — If it be a good work to clothe
with shape and form, according to our standard,
that which is formless, shapeless, and without
consistency, how shall we not make images to
ourselves in the same way of things perceived
through form and shape, so that we may bear
them in mind, and be moved to imitate what
they represent.
The Same, on the ' Ecclesiastical Hierarchy. '
Now, if the substances (ova-iai) and orders
above us, of which we have already made
reverent mention, are without bodies, their
hierarchy is intellectual and above sense.
We supply by the variety of sensible symbols
the visible order, which is according to our
own measure. Those sensible symbols lead us
naturally to intellectual conception, to God and
His divine attributes. Spiritual minds form
their own spiritual conceptions, but we are led
to the divine vision by sensible images.
TREATISE ON IMAGES 33
Commentary. — If, then, it be rational that
we are led to the divine vision by sensible
images, and if Divine Providence mercifully
clothes in form and image that which is without
either for our benefit, what is there unseemly
about imaging, according to our capacity, Him
who graciously disguised Himself for us in
shape and form ?
A tradition has come down to us that Angaros,
King of Edessa, was drawn vehemently to
divine love by hearing of our Lord,* and that
he sent envoys to ask for His likeness. If this
were refused, they were ordered to have a like
ness painted. Then He, who is all-knowing
and all-powerful, is said to have taken a strip of
cloth, and pressing it to His face, to have left
His likeness upon the cloth, which it retains to
this day.
St Basils Sermon on the Martyr St Barlam,
beginning, ' In the first place the death of
the saints'
Arise, you renowned painters of brave deeds,
who set forth by your art a faint image of the
General. My praise of the laurel-crowned
victor is faint compared to the colours of your
* rrj roi) Kvpiov irpbs deiov eKTrvpaev6evTa eporra
34 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
brush. I will give up writing on the excellencies
of the martyr whom you have crowned. I
rejoice at the victory won to-day by your
strength. I contemplate the hand put out to
the flames, more powerfully dealt with by you.
I see the struggle more clearly depicted on your
statue. Let demons be enraged even now,
overcome by the martyr's excellencies which
you reveal. Let the powerful hand be again
outstretched to victory. May Christ our Lord,
the supreme Judge of the warfare, appear in
picture. To Him be glory for ever and ever.
Amen.
From the same, from the Thirty Chapters
to Amphilochios, on the Holy Ghost.—
Chap, xviii.
The image of the king is also called the
king, and there are not two kings in con
sequence. Neither is power divided, nor is
glory distributed. Just as the reigning power
over us is one, so is our homage one, not
many, and the honour given to the image
reaches back to the original. What the image
is in the one case as a representation, that the
Son is by His humanity, and as in art like-
TREATISE ON IMAGES 35
ness is according to form, so in the divine and
incommensurable nature (ao-wOeros) union is
effected in the indwelling Godhead.
Commentary. — If the image of the king is
the king, the image of Christ is Christ, and
the image of a saint the saint, and if power
is not divided nor glory distributed, honouring
the image becomes honouring the one who is
set forth in image. Devils have feared the
saints, and have fled from their shadow. The
shadow is an image, and I make an image
that I may scare demons. If you say that
only intellectual worship befits God, take away
all corporeal things, light, and fragrance, prayer
itself through the physical voice, the very divine
mysteries which are offered through matter,
bread, and wine, the oil of chrism, the sign of
the Cross, for all this is matter. Take away
the Cross, and the sponge of the Crucifixion,
and the spear which pierced the life-giving-
side. Either give up honouring these things
as impossible, or do not reject the veneration
of images. Matter is endued with a divine
power through prayer made to those who are
depicted in image. Purple by itself is simple,
and so is silk, and the cloak which is made of
ST JOHN DAMASCENE
both. But if the king put it on, the cloak
receives honour from the honour due to the
wearer. So is it with matter. By itself it is of
no account, but if the one presented in image be
full of grace, men become partakers of his grace
according to their faith. The apostles knew
our Lord with their bodily eyes ; others knew
the apostles, others the martyrs. I, too, desire
to see them in the spirit and in the flesh, and
to possess a saving remedy as I am a com
posite being. I see with my eyes, and revere
that which represents what I honour, though I
do not worship it as God. Now you, perhaps,
are superior to me, and are lifted up above
bodily things, and being, as it were, not of
flesh, you make light of what is visible, but
as I am human and clothed with a body, I
desire to see and to be corporeally with the
saints. Condescend to my humble wish that
you may be secure on your heights. God
accepts my longing for Him and for His saints.
For He rejoices at the praises of His servant,
according to the great St Basil in his pane
gyric of the Forty Martyrs. Listen to the
words which he uttered in honour of the martyr
St Gordion.
TREATISE ON IMAGES 37
From St BasiTs Sermon on St Gordion.
The mere memory of just deeds is a source
of spiritual joy to the whole world ; people are
moved to imitate the holiness of which they
hear. The life of holy men is as a light
illuminating the way for those who would see
it. And again, when we recount the story of
holy lives we glorify in the first place the Lord
of those servants, and we give praise to the
servants on account of their testimony, which
is known to us. We rejoice the world through
good report.
Commentary. — The remembrance of the saints
is thus, you see, a glory to God, praise of the
saints, joy and salvation to the whole world.
Why, then, would you destroy it ? This re
membrance is kept by preaching and by images,
says the same great St Basil.
The same, on the Martyr St Gordion.
Just as burning follows naturally on fire, and
fragrance on sweet ointment, so must good
arise from holy actions. For it is no small
thing to represent past events according to life.
Is it a dim memory of the man's wrestlings
38 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
which has come down to us, and does not the
painter's picture tally with our present conflict ?
Now, as painters draw images from images,
they frequently depart from the original as
much as the image itself does, and as we did
not see what they represent, there is no little
fear that we may injure the truth.
The same, at the end.
The sun fills us with perpetual wonder,
though always before us, so the memory of
this man is ever fresh.
Commentary. — It is evident that it is fresh
through sermon and image.
Testimony of the same, from his Sermon on the
Forty Martyrs.
Can the lover of the martyrs have too much
of their memory ? For the honour shown to
the just, our fellow-men, is a testimony to the
goodness of our common Lord.
And again :—
Recognise the blessedness of the martyr
heartily, that you may be a martyr in will ;
thus, without persecutor, or fire, or blows,
found worthy of the same reward.
TREATISE ON IMAGES 39
Commentary. — How, then, would you dissuade
me from honouring the saints, and be envious
of my salvation ? Listen to what he says a
little further on to show that he united the
painter's art to oratory.
St Basil.
See, then, that setting them before us in
representation, we are making them helpful to
the living, exhibiting their holiness to us all
as if in a picture.
Commentary. — Do you understand that both
image and sermon teach one lesson ? He
says : ' Let us show them forth in a sermon
as if in a picture.' And again : Writers and
painters point out the struggles of war; the first
by the art of style, the second with their brush,
and each induce many to be brave. That
which a spoken account presents to the hear
ing, a silent picture portrays for imitation.
Commentary. — What better proof have we
that images are the books of the illiterate, the
ever-speaking heralds of honouring the saints,
teaching those who gaze upon them without
words, and sanctifying the spectacle. I have
not many books nor time for study, and I go
4O ST JOHN DAMASCENE
into a church, the common refuge of souls, my
mind wearied with conflicting thoughts. I see
before me a beautiful picture and the sight
refreshes me, and induces me to glorify God.
I marvel at the martyr's endurance, at his
reward, and fired with burning zeal, I fall
down to adore God through His martyr, and
receive a grace of salvation. Have you not
heard the same holy father in his homily on
the beginning of the Psalms, say that the Holy
Spirit, knowing the human race were obstinate
and hard to lead, mixed honey with the psalm-
singing ? What do you say to this ? Shall
I not perpetuate the martyr's testimony both
by word and paint brush ? Shall I not em
brace with my eyes that which is a wonder
to the angels and to the whole world, formid
able to the devil, a terror to demons, as the
same great Father says ? Again, towards the
end of his homily on the forty martyrs, he
exclaims, 'O sainted band ! O sacred fraternity !
O invincible army ! protectors of the human
race, solace of the troubled, hope of your
petitioners, most powerful intercessors, light
of the world, bloom both intellectual and
material of the Churches ! The earth has
TREATISE ON IMAGES 41
not hidden you from sight, heaven has re
ceived you. May its gates be opened to you.
The spectacle is worthy of angels and patri
archs, prophets, and just.'
Commentary. — How shall I not desire to
see what the angels desire ? St Basil's brother,
who is one with him in thought, St Gregory
of Nyssa, shares his sentiments.
St Gregory of Nyssa, from the ' Structure of
Man!
S^Lpplementary. — Just as in human fashion
the image makers of the powerful grasp the
character of the form and set forth the royal
dignity with the insignia of the purple, and
their handiwork is called image or king, so is
it with human nature. As it was created to
rule over other creations, it was made as an
animated type or image, partaking of the
original in dignity and name.
The same, Fifth Chapter.
The divine beauty is not set forth either in
form or comeliness of design or colouring, but
is contemplated in speechless blessedness,
according to its virtue. So do painters
42 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
transfer human forms to canvas through
certain colours, laying on suitable and har
monious tints to the picture, so as to transfer
the beauty of the original to the likeness.
Commentary. — You see that the divine
beauty is not set forth in form or shape, and on
this account it cannot be conveyed by an image
(OVK eucovtferat) : it is the human form which
is transferred to canvas by the artist's brush.
If, therefore, the Son of God became man,
taking the form of a servant, and appearing in
man's nature, a perfect man, why should His
image not be made? If, in common parlance,
the king's image is called the king, and the
honour shown to the image redounds to the
original, as holy Basil says, why should the
image not be honoured and worshipped, not as
God, but as the image of God Incarnate ?
The same, from his Sermon at Constantinople
on the Godhead of the Son and of the
Spirit, and on Abraham.
Then the father proceeds to bind his son.
I have often seen paintings of this touching-
scene, and could not look at it with dry eyes,
art setting it forth so vividly. Isaac is lying
TREATISE ON IMAGES 43
before the altar, his legs bound, his hands tied
behind his back. The father approaching the
victim, clasping his hair with the left hand,
stoops over the face so piteously turned to
wards him, and holds in his right hand the
sword, ready to strike. Already the point of
the sword is on the body when the divine voice
is heard, forbidding the consummation.
Leo* Bishop of Neapolis in Cyprus. From
his book against the Jews, on the Adoration
of the Cross, and the Statues of the Saints,
and on Relics.
If you, O Jew, reproach me saying that
I adore the wood of the Cross as God, why
do you not reproach Jacob, who worshipped
on the point of his staff (kir\ TO aicpov rf/? pa/3Sov)?
Now it is evident that he was not worshipping
wood. So with us ; we are worshipping Christ
through the Cross, not the wood of the Cross.
Commentary. — If we adore the Cross, made
of whatever wood it may be, how shall we not
adore the image of the Crucified ?
* A short passage from St John Chrysostom, which
follows, is omitted on account of Editor's note : locus
hie mihi non occurrit apud Chrysostomum in Epistolam ad
ffebrceos.
44 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
From the same.
Abraham worshipped the impious men who
sold him the cave, and bent his knee to the
ground, yet did not worship them as gods.
Jacob praised Pharao, an impious idolater, yet
not as God, and he fell down at the feet of
Esau, yet did not worship him as God. And
again, How does God order us to worship
the earth and mountains ? ' Exalt the Lord
your God and worship Him upon His holy
mountain, and adore His footstool,' that is,
the earth. For heaven is My throne, He
says, and the earth My footstool. How was
it that Moses worshipped Jothor, an idolator,
and Daniel, Nabuchodonosor ? How can you
reproach me because I honour those who
honour God and show Him service? Tell
me, is it not fitting to worship the saints,
rather than to throw stones at them as you
do? Is it not right to worship them, rather
than to attack them, and to fling your bene
factors into the mire ? If you loved God,
you would be ready to honour His servants
also. And if the bones of the just are
unclean, why were the bones of Jacob and
TREATISE ON IMAGES 45
Joseph brought with all honour from Egypt ?
How was it that a dead man arose again on
touching the bones of Eliseus ? If God works
wonders through bones, it is evident that He
can work them through images, and stones,
and many other things, as in the case of
Eliseus, who gave his staff to his servant,
saying, ' With this go and raise from the dead
the son of the Sunamitess.' With his staff
Moses chastised Pharao, parted the waters,
struck the rock, and drew forth the stream.
And Solomon said, ' Blessed is the wood by
which justice cometh.' Eliseus took iron out
of the Jordan with a piece of wood. And
again, the wood is the wood of life, and the
wood of Sabec, that is, of remission. Moses
humbled the serpent with wood and saved the
people. The blossoming rod in the tabernacle
confirmed the priesthood of Aaron. Perhaps,
O Jew, you will tell me that God prescribed
to Moses beforehand all the things of the
testimony in the tabernacle. Now, I say to
you that Solomon made a great variety of
things in the temple in carvings and sculpture,
which God had not ordered him to do. Nor
did the tabernacle of the testimony contain
46 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
them, nor the temple which God showed to
Ezechiel, nor was Solomon to be blamed in
this. He had had these sculptured images
made for the glory of God as we do. You,
too, had many and varied images and signs
in the Old Testament to serve as a reminder
of God, if you had not lost them through
ingratitude. For instance, the rod of Moses,
the tablets of the law, the burning bush, the
rock giving forth water, the ark containing
the manna, the altar set on fire from above
(jrvpevOeov), the lamina bearing the divine
name, the ephod, the tabernacle overshadowed
by God. If you had prepared all these things
by day and by night, saying, ' Glory be to
Thee, O Almighty God, who hast done
wonders in Israel through all these things ' ;
if through all these ordinances of the law,
carried out of old, you had fallen on your
knees to adore God, you would see that
worship is given to Him by images.
And further on :—
He who truly loves a friend or the king,
and especially his benefactor, if he sees that
benefactor's son, or his staff, or his chair, or
TREATISE ON IMAGES 47
his crown, or his house, or his servant, he
holds them fast in his embrace, and if he
honours his benefactor, the king, how much
more God. Again I repeat it, would that
you had made images according to the law
of Moses and the prophets, and that day by
day you had worshipped the God of images.
Whenever, then, you see Christians adoring
the Cross, know that they are adoring the
Crucified Christ, not the mere wood.* If,
indeed, they honoured wood as wood, they
would be bound to worship trees of whatever
kind, as you, O Israel, worshipped them of
old, saying to the tree and to the stone,
'Thou art my God and didst bring me forth.'
We do not speak either to the Cross or to
the representations of the saints in this way.
They are not our gods, but books which lie
open and are venerated in churches in order
to remind us of God and to lead us to
worship Him. He who honours the martyr
* Compare —
Ce n'est ni la pierre ni le bois
Que le catholique adore ;
Mais c'est le Roi qui mort en croix
De Son Sang la croix honore.
— Vie de St Francois de Sales, par M. Hamond.
48 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
honours God, to whom the martyr bore
testimony. He who worships the apostle
of Christ worships Him who sent the apostle.
He who falls at the feet of Christ's mother
most certainly shows honour to her Son.
There is no God but one, He who is known
and adored in the Trinity.
Commentary. - - Who is the faithful inter
preter of blessed Epiphanius — Leontius, whose
teaching adorned the island of Cyprus, or
those who spoke according to their own con
ceits ? Listen to the testimony of Severianus,
Bishop of the Gabali.
Severianus, Bishop of the Gabali, on the De
dication of the Cross.
How was it that the image of the enemy
gave life to our progenitors ? . . .
How was it that the image of the serpent
worked salvation to the people in distress ?
Would it not have been more reasonable to
say, ' If any of you be bitten, let him look up to
heaven, to God, and he shall be saved, or let
him look towards the tabernacle of God ' ?
Passing over this, he set up the image of the
Cross alone. Why did Moses do this, who
TREATISE ON IMAGES 49
said to the people, * Thou shalt not make to
thyself a graven thing, nor the likeness of any
thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth
beneath, nor of those things that are in the
waters under the earth ' ? However, why do
I speak to unworthy people ? Tell me, devout
servant of God, will you do what is forbidden,
and disregard what you are told to do ? He
who said, * Thou shalt not make to thyself a
graven thing,' condemned the golden calf, and
you make a brazen serpent, and this not
secretly, but most openly, so that it is known to
all. Moses answers, I laid down that com
mandment in order to root out impiety, and to
withdraw the people from all apostasy and
idolatry ; now, I have the serpent cast for a
good purpose — as a figure of the truth. And
just as I have put up a tabernacle, and every
thing in it, and cherubim, the likeness of the
invisible powers, over the holy of holies, as a
sign and figure of the future, so I have set
up a serpent for the salvation of the people, to
serve as a preliminary to the image of the
Cross, and the redemption contained in it. As
a confirmation of this, listen to the Lord saying,
1 As Moses exalted the serpent in the desert, so
D
5O ST JOHN DAMASCENE
must you exalt the Son of Man, that every one
believing in Him may not be lost, but may
have eternal life.'
Commentary. — Notice that His command
ment not to make any graven thing was given
to draw the people from idolatry, to which they
were prone, and that the brazen serpent was an
image of our Lord's suffering.
Listen to what I am going to say as a proof
that images are no new invention. It is an
ancient practice well known to the best and
foremost of the fathers. Elladios, the disciple
of blessed Basil and his successor, says in his
Life of Basil that the holy man was standing by
the image of Our Lady, on which was painted
also the likeness of Mercurius, the renowned
martyr. He was standing by it asking for the
removal of the impious apostate Julian, and he
received this revelation from the statue. He
saw the martyr vanish for a time, and then
reappear, holding a bloody spear.
Taken word for word from the Life of St John
Chrysostom.
Blessed John loved the epistles of St Paul
exceedingly. ... He had an image of the
TREATISE ON IMAGES 51
apostle in a place where he was wont to retire
now and then on account of his physical weak
ness, for he outdid nature in watchings and
vigils. As he read through St Paul's epistles,
he had the image before him, and spoke to the
apostle as if he had been present, praising him,
and directing all his thoughts to him. . . .
When Proclus had finished speaking, gazing
intently at the image of the apostle, and re
cognising the likeness to the man he had seen,
saluting John, he said, pointing to the image :
' Forgive me, father ; the man I saw talking to
you is very like this statue. In fact, I should
say he is the same.'
In the life of St Eupraxia we are told that her
Superior showed her the likeness of our Lord.
We read in the life of St Mary of Egypt
that she prayed before the statue of Our Lady
and besought her intercession, and so obtained
leave to enter the Church.*
In all the past array of Christian priests and
kings, wise and pious, conspicuous by teaching
and example, in so many councils of holy and
inspired fathers, how is it that no one has
* A testimony quoted from Sophronius is here sup
pressed.
52 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
pointed out these things ? We are not advo
cating a new faith. The law shall come out of
Sion, the Holy Ghost said prophetically, and
the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. We do
not advocate one thing at one time, and another
at another, nor that the faith should become a
laughing-stock to those outside. We will not
allow the king's commands to overturn the
tradition handed down from the fathers. It is
not for pious kings to overturn ecclesiastical
boundaries. These are not patristic ways.
Things done by force are impositions, and do
not carry persuasion. A proof of this was given
in the 2nd Council of Ephesus, when a decree,
which has never been recognised as valid, was
enforced by the emperor's hand, and blessed
Flavian was put to death. Councils do not
belong to kings, as the Lord says : ( Wherever
one or two are gathered together in My name,
there I am in the midst of them.' Christ did
not give to kings the power to bind and to
loose, but to the apostles, and to their suc
cessors and pastors and teachers. * If an angel
were to teach you a different gospel to what
you have received,' St Paul says — but we will
be silent about what follows, in the hope of
TREATISE ON IMAGES 53
their conversion. And if we find the warning
disregarded, which may God avert, we will
then add the rest. Let us hope it will not be
needed.
If any one should enter a house and should
see on the walls a history in painting of Moses
and Aaron, perchance he might ask about the
people who are walking across the sea as if
it were dry land. ' Who are they ? ' he asks.
What would you say ? ' Are they not the sons
of Israel ? ' ' Who is dividing the sea with his
rod ? ' Would you not say ' Moses ' ? So if a
man makes an image of Christ crucified, and
you are asked who he is, you reply, 'It is
Christ our Lord, who became incarnate for us.'
Yes, O Lord, we adore all that belongs to
Thee, and we take to our hearts Thy Godhead,
Thy power and goodness, Thy mercy towards
us, Thy condescension and Thy Incarnation.
And as men fear touching red-hot iron, not
because of the iron but because of the heat,
so do we worship Thy flesh, not for the nature
of flesh, but through the Godhead united to
that flesh according to substance. We worship
Thy sufferings. Who has ever known death
worshipped, or suffering venerated ? Yet we
54 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
truly worship the physical death of our God
and His saving sufferings. We adore Thy
image and all that is Thine ; Thy servants,
Thy friends, and most of all Thy Mother, the
Mother of God.
We beseech, therefore, the people of God,
the faithful flock, to hold fast to the ecclesi
astical traditions. The gradual taking away
of what has been handed down to us would
be undermining the foundation stones, and
would in no short time overthrow the whole
structure. May we prove steadfast, unflinch
ing, immovable, founded on the solid Rock
which is Christ, to whom be praise, glory, and
worship, with the Father and the Holy Ghost,
now and for ever. Amen.
PART II.
I CRAVE your indulgence, my readers (Secnroral
MOW), and ask you to receive the true statement
of one who is an unprofitable servant, the least
of all, in the Church of God. I have not been
moved to speak by motives of vainglory, God
is my witness, but by zeal for the truth. In
this alone is my hope of salvation, and with it
I trust and pray to go out to meet Christ our
Lord, asking that it may be an expiation for
my sins. The man who received five talents
from his lord, brought other five which he had
gained, and the man with two, other two.
The man who received one, and buried it,
gave it back without interest, and being pro
nounced a wicked servant, was banished into
external darkness. Lest I should suffer in the
same way, I obey God's commands, and with
the talent of eloquence, which is His gift, I put
before the wise among you a treasure table, so
56 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
that when the Lord comes He may find me
rich in souls, a faithful servant, whom He may
take into that ineffable joy of His, which is my
desire. Give me listening ears and willing1
hearts. Receive my treatise, and ponder well
the force of the arguments. This is the second
part of my work on images. Certain children
of the Church have urged me to do it because
the first part was not sufficiently clear to all.
Be indulgent with me on this account, for my
obedience.
The wicked serpent of old, Beloved, I mean
the devil — is wont to wage war in many ways
against man, who is made after God's image,
and to work his destruction through opposition.
In the very beginning he inspired man with the
hope and desire of becoming a god, and through
that desire he dragged man down to share the
death of the brute creation. He has enticed
man also by shameful and brutal pleasures.
What a contrast between becoming a god and
feeling brutal lust. And again, he led man
into infidelity, as the royal (OeoTrarwp) David
says : ' The fool said in his heart there is no
God.' At one time he has brought man to
worship too many gods, at another not even
TREATISE ON IMAGES 57
the true God, sometimes demons, and again,
the heavens and the earth, the sun and moon
and stars, and the rest of creation, wild beasts
and reptiles. It is as bad to refuse due honour
where honour is due, as to give it where it is
not due. Again, he has taught some to call
the uncreated god evil, and has deceived others
by making them recognise God, who is good
by nature, as the author of evil. Some he has
deceived by the misconception of one nature
and one substance of the Godhead ; some he
has induced to honour three natures and three
substances ; some one substance in our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Holy
Trinity ; some two natures and two substances.
But the truth, taking a middle course,
sweeps away these misconceptions and teaches
us to acknowledge one God, one nature in
three persons (I'xoo-Taoreo-f), the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Ghost. Evil is not a
being,* but an accident, a certain conception,
word, or deed against the law of God, taking
* See St Augustine, de Civitate Dei : Nemo igitur
qucerat efficientem causam malse voluntatis ; non enim
est efficiens, sed deficiens, quia nee ilia efiectio sed de-
fectio (xii. c. vii).
58 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
its origin in this conception, speech, or doing,
and ending with it. The truth proclaims
also that in Christ, the second person of the
Holy Trinity, there are two natures and one
person. Now, the devil, the enemy of the
truth and of man's salvation, in suggesting
that images of corruptible man, and of birds
and beasts and reptiles, should be made and
worshipped as gods, has often led astray not
only heathens but the children of Israel. In
these days he is eager to trouble the peace
of Christ's Church through false and lying
tongues, using divine words in favour of what
is evil, and striving to disguise his wicked
intent, and drawing the unstable away from
true and patristic custom. Some have risen
up and said that it was wrong to represent
and set forth publicly for adoration the saving
wounds of Christ, and the combats of the
saints against the devil. Who with a know
ledge of divine things and a spiritual sense
does not perceive in this a deception of the
devil ? He is unwilling that his shame
should be known and that the glory of God
and of His saints should be published.
If we made an image of the invisible God,
TREATISE ON IMAGES 59
we should in truth do wrong. For it is
impossible to make a statue of one who is
without body, invisible, boundless, and form
less. Again, if we made statues of men, and
held them to be gods, worshipping them as
such, we should be most impious. But we
do neither. For in making the image of God,
who became incarnate and visible on earth,
a man amongst men through His unspeakable
goodness, taking upon Him shape and form
and flesh, we are not misled. We long to see
what He was like. As the divine apostle
says, We see now in a glass, darkly. The
image, too, is a dark glass, according to the
denseness of our bodies. The mind, in much
travail, cannot rid itself of bodily things.
Shame upon you, wicked devil, for grudging
us the sight of our Lord's likeness and our
sanctification through it. You would not have
us gaze at His saving sufferings nor wonder
at His condescension, neither contemplate His
miracles nor praise His almighty power. You
grudge the saints the honour God gives to
them. You would not have us see their glory
put on record, nor allow us to become imitators
of their fortitude and faith. We will not
6O ST JOHN DAMASCENE
obey your suggestions, wicked and man-hating
devil. Listen to me, people of all nations,
men, women, and children, all of you who bear
the Christian name : If any one preach to
you something contrary to what the Catholic
Church has received from the holy apostles
and fathers and councils, and has kept down
to the present day, do not heed him. Do not
receive the serpent's counsel, as Eve did, to
whom it was death. If an angel or an
emperor teaches you anything contrary to
what you have received, shut your ears. I
have refrained so far from saying, as the holy
apostle said, ' Let him be anathema,' in the
hope of amendment.
But say those who do not enter into the
mind of Scripture, God said, through Moses
the law-giver : ' Thou shalt not make to
thyself the likeness of any thing that is in
heaven above, or in the earth beneath ' ; and
through the prophet David : ' Let them be all
confounded that adore graven things, and
that glory in their idols/ and many similar
passages. Whatever they have quoted from
Holy Scripture and the fathers is to the same
intent.
TREATISE ON IMAGES 6 1
Now, what shall we say to these things ?
What, if not that which God spoke to the
Jews, * Search the Scriptures.'
It is good to examine the Scriptures, but
let your mind be enlightened from the search.
It is impossible, Beloved, that God should not
speak truth. There is one God, one Law
giver of the old and new dispensation, who
spoke of old in many ways to the patriarchs
through the prophets, and in these latter times
through His only begotten Son. Apply your
mind with discernment. It is not I who am
speaking. The Holy Ghost declared by the
holy apostle St Paul that God spoke of old
in many different ways to the patriarchs
through the prophets. Note, in many different
ways. A skilful doctor does not invariably
prescribe for all alike, but for each according
to his state, taking into consideration climate
and complaint, season and age, giving one
remedy to a child, another to a grown man,
according to his age ; one thing to a weak
patient, another to a strong ; and to each
sufferer the right thing for his state and
malady : one thing in the summer, another in
the winter, another in the spring or autumn,
62 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
and in each place according to its requirements.
So in the same way the good Physician of
souls prescribed for those who were still
children and inclined to the sickness of idolatry,
holding idols to be gods, and worshipping
them as such, neglecting the worship of God,
and preferring the creature to His glory.
He charged them not to do this.
It is impossible to make an image of God,
who is a pure spirit, invisible, boundless, having
neither form nor circumscription. How can
we make an image of wrhat is invisible ? ' No
man hath seen God at any time ; the only-
begotten Son who is in the bosom of the
Father, He hath declared Him.' And again,
' No one shall see My face and live, saith the
Lord.'
That they did worship idols there is no
doubt from what the Scripture says about the
going out of the children of Israel, when Moses
went up to Mount Sinai, and persevered in
prayer to God. Whilst receiving the law, the
ungrateful people rose against Aaron, the
priest of God, saying : 4 Make us gods who
may go before us. For as to Moses, we know
not what has befallen him.' Then, when they
TREATISE ON IMAGES 63
had looked over the trinkets of their wives, and
brought them together, they ate and drank,
and were inebriated with wine and madness,
and began to make merry, saying in their
foolishness, 'These are thy gods, O Israel.'
Do you see that they made gods of idols who
were demons, and that they worshipped the
creature instead of the Creator ? As the holy
apostle says : ' They changed the glory of the
incorruptible God into the likeness of the
image of a corruptible man and of birds, and
of four-footed beasts, and of creeping things,
and served the creature rather than the
Creator.' On this account God forbade them to
make any graven image, as Moses says in
Deuteronomy : ' And the Lord spoke to you
from the midst of the fire ; you heard the voice
of His words, but you saw not any form at
all.' And a little further on : ' Keep therefore
your souls carefully ; you saw not any simili
tude in the day that the Lord God spoke to
you in Horeb, from the midst of the fire, lest
perhaps being deceived you might make you
a graven similitude or image of male or female,
the similitude of any beasts that are upon the
earth, or of birds that fly under heaven.' And
64 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
again : ' Lest perhaps lifting up thy eyes to
heaven, thou see the sun and the moon, and
all the stars of heaven, and being deceived by
error, thou adore and serve them.' You see
the one object in view is that the creature
should not be worshipped instead of the
Creator, and that the worship of latreia should
be given to God alone. Thus in every case
when he speaks of worship he means latreia.
Again : ' Thou shalt not have strange gods in
my sight ; thou shalt not make to thyself a
graven thing nor any likeness.' Again : ' Thou
shalt not make to thyself gods of metal.'
You see that He forbids image-making on
account of idolatry, and that it is impossible
to make an image of God, who is a Spirit,
invisible, and uncircumscribed. 'You have
not seen His likeness,' He says ; and St Paul,
standing in the midst of the Areopagus, says:
' Being therefore the offspring of God, we must
not suppose the divinity to be like unto gold,
or silver, or stone, the graving of art, a device
of man.'
Listen again that it is so. Thou shalt not
make to thyself any brazen thing nor any
likeness. These things, he says, they made
TREATISE ON IMAGES 65
by God's commandment a hanging of violet,
purple, scarlet, and fine twisted linen in the
entrance of the tabernacle, and the cherubim
in woven work. And they made also the
propitiatory, that is, the oracle of the purest
gold, and the two cherubim. What will you
say to this, O Moses? You say, thou shalt
not make to thyself any graven thing nor any
likeness, and you yourself fashion cherubim of
woven work, and two cherubim of pure gold.
Listen to the answer of God's servant Moses :
' You blind and foolish people, mark the force
of what is said, and keep your souls carefully.
I said that you had seen no likeness on the
day when the Lord spoke to you on Mount
Horeb, in the midst of the fire, lest you should
sin against the law and make for yourselves a
brazen likeness : thou shalt not make any
image or gods of metal. I never said thou
shalt not make the image of cherubim in
adoration before the propitiatory. What I
said was : Thou shalt not make to thyself
gods of metal, and thou shalt not make any
likeness as of God, nor shalt thou adore
the creature instead of the Creator, nor
any creature whatsoever as God, nor have
E
66 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
I served the creature rather than the Crea
tor.5
Note how the object of Scripture becomes
clear to those who really search it. You must
know, Beloved, that in every business truth and
falsehood are distinguished, and the object of
the doer, whether it be good or bad. In the
gospel we find all things good and evil. God,
the angels, man, the heavens, the earth, water
and fire and air, the sun and moon and stars,
light and darkness, Satan and the devils, the
serpent and scorpions, death and hell, virtues
and vices. And because everything told about
them is true, and the object in view is the glory
of God and the saints whom He has honoured,
our salvation, and the shame of the devil, we
worship and embrace and love these utterances,
and receive them with our whole heart as we
do the whole of the old and new dispensation,
and all the spoken testimony of the holy
fathers. Now, we reject the evil, abominable
writings of heathens and Manicheans, and all
other heretics, as containing foolishness and
lies, promoting the advantage of Satan and his
demons, and giving them pleasure, although
they contain the name of God. So with regard
TREATISE ON IMAGES 67
to images we must manifest the truth, and take
into account the intention of those who make
them. If it be in very deed for the glory of
God and of His saints to promote goodness,
to avoid evil, and save souls, we should receive
and honour and worship them as images, and
remembrances, likenesses, and the books of the
illiterate. We should love and embrace them
with hand and heart as reminders of the
incarnate God, or His Mother, or of the saints,
the participators in the sufferings and the glory
of Christ, the conquerors and overthrowers of
Satan, and diabolical fraud. If any one should
dare to make an image of Almighty God, who
is pure Spirit, invisible, uncircumscribed, we
reject it as a falsehood. If any one make
images for the honour and worship of the
Devil and his angels, we abhor them and
deliver them to the flames. Or if any one give
divine honours to the statues of men, or birds,
or reptiles, or any other created thing, we
anathematise him. As our forefathers in the
faith pulled down the temples of demons, and
erected on the same spot churches dedicated
to saints whom we honour, so they overturned
the statues of demons, and set up instead the
68 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
images of Christ, of His holy Mother, and the
saints. Even in the old dispensation, Israel
neither raised temples to human beings, nor
held sacred the memory of man. At that time
Adam's race was under a curse, and death was
a penalty, therefore a mourning. A corpse
was looked upon as unclean, and the man who
touched it as contaminated. But since the
Godhead has taken to Himself our nature, it
has become glorified as a vivifying and effica
cious remedy, and has been transformed unto
immortality. Thus the death of the saints is a
rejoicing, and churches are raised to them, and
their images are set up. Be assured that any
one wishing to pull down an image erected out
of pure zeal for the glory and enduring memory
of Christ, or of His holy Mother, or any of the
saints, to put the devil and his satellites to
shame, — anyone, I say, refusing to honour and
worship this image as sacred — it is not to be
worshipped as God — is an enemy of Christ, of
His blessed Mother, and of the saints, and is an
advocate of the devil and his crew, showing
grief by his conduct that the saints are honoured
and glorified, and the devil put to shame. The
image is a hymn of praise, a manifestation, a
TREATISE ON IMAGES 69
lasting token of those who have fought and con
quered, and of demons humbled and put to flight.
Kings have no call to make laws in the
Church. What does the holy apostle say ?
' And God, indeed, hath set some in the church,
first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly doctors
and shepherds ' for the training of the Church.
He does not say 'kings.' And again : ' Obey
your prelates, and be subject to them. For
they watch as being to render an account of
your souls.' Again : ' Remember your prelates
who have spoken the word of God to you,
whose faith follow, considering the end of your
conversation.' Kings have not spoken the
word to you, but apostles and prophets,
pastors and doctors. When God was speaking
to David about building a house for Him, He
said : ' Thou shalt not build me a house, for
thou art a man of blood.' * Render, therefore,
to all men their dues,' St Paul exclaimed ;
1 tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to
whom custom, fear to whom fear, honour to
whom honour.' The political prosperity is the
king's business : * the ecclesiastical organisation
iro\iTiicri euirpafi'a ; 17 5£
5i5acr/caXwr. X^crr/ot/cT) ^0o5os tffTiv avrij.
7O ST JOHN DAMASCENE
belongs to pastors and doctors, and to take it
out of their hands is to commit an act of
robbery. Saul rent Samuel's cloak, and what
was the consequence ? God took from him his
royalty, and gave it to the meek David.
Jezabel pursued Elias, pigs and dogs licked up
her blood, and harlots were bathed in it.
Herod removed John, and was consumed by
worms. And now holy Germanus, shining by
word and example, has been punished and
become an exile, and many more bishops and
fathers, whose names are unknown to us. Is
not this a persecution ? When the Pharisees
and the learned surrounded our Lord, ostensibly
to listen to His teaching, and when they asked
Him if it was lawful to pay tribute to Caesar,
He answered them : ' Bring me a coin.' And
when they had brought it, He said : ( Whose
image is this?' Upon their reply, 'Caesar's,'
He said, 'Give to Caesar that which is Caesar's
and to God that which is God's.' We are
obedient to you, O King, in things concerning
our daily life, in tributes, taxes, and payments,
which are your due ; but in ecclesiastical
government we have our pastors, preachers of
the word, and exponents of ecclesiastical law.
TREATISE ON IMAGES 71
We do not change the boundaries marked out
by our fathers : we keep the tradition we have
received. If we begin to lay down the law to
the Church, even in the smallest thing, the
whole edifice will fall to the ground in no
short time.
You look down upon matter and call it con
temptible. This is what the Manicheans did,
but holy Scripture pronounces it to be good ;
for it says, * And God saw all that He had
made, and it was very good.' I say matter is
God's creation and a good thing. Now, if you
say it is bad, you say either that it is not from
God, or you make Him a cause of evil. Listen
to the words of Scripture concerning matter,
which you despise : ' And Moses said to all the
assembly of the children of Israel : This is
the word the Lord hath commanded, saying :
Set aside with you first fruits to the Lord ;
let every one that is willing and hath a ready
heart, offer them to the Lord : gold, and silver,
and brass, violet and purple, and scarlet twice
dyed, and fine linen, goat's hair, and ram's
skins dyed red, and violet, and coloured skins,
selimwood, and oil to maintain lights, and to
make ointment, and most sweet incense, onyx
72 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
stones and precious stones for the adorning of
the ephod and the rational : Whosoever of you is
.wise let him come and make that which the Lord
hath commanded : to wit, the tabernacle,' etc.
Behold, then, matter is honoured, and you
dishonour it. What is more insignificant than
goat's hair, or colours, and are not violet and
purple and scarlet colours ? And the likeness
of the cherubim are the work of man's hand,
and the tabernacle itself from first to last was
an image. * Look,' said God to Moses, * and
make it according to the pattern that was
shown thee in the Mount,' and it was adored by
the people of Israel in a circle. And, as to the
cherubim, were they not in sight of the people ?
And did not the people look at the ark, and
the lamps, and the table, the golden urn and
the staff, and adore ? It is not matter which I
adore ; it is the Lord of matter, becoming
matter for my sake, taking up His abode in
matter and working out my salvation through
matter. For the Word was made Flesh, and
dwelt amongst us. It is evident to all that
flesh is matter, and that it is created. I
reverence and honour matter, and worship that
which has brought about my salvation. I
TREATISE ON IMAGES 73
honour it, not as God, but as a channel of
divine strength and grace. Was not the thrice
blessed wood of the Cross matter ? and the
sacred and holy mountain of Calvary ? Was
not the holy sepulchre matter, the life-giving
stone the source of our resurrection ? Was not
the book of the Gospels matter, and the holy table
which gives us the bread of life ? Are not gold
and silver matter, of which crosses, and holy
pictures, and chalices are made ? And above
all, is not the Lord's Body and Blood composed
of matter ? Either reject the honour and
worship of all these things, or conform to
ecclesiastical tradition, sanctifying the worship
of images in the name of God and of God's
friends, and so obeying the grace of the Divine
Spirit. If you give up images on account of
the law, you should also keep the Sabbath and
be circumcised, for these are severely inculcated
by it. You should observe all the law, and not
celebrate the Lord's Passover out of Jerusalem.
But you must know that if you observe the
law, Christ will profit you nothing. You are
ordered to marry your brother's wife, and so
carry on his name, and not to sing the song of
the Lord in a strange land. Enough of this !
74 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
Those who have been justified by the law have
fallen from grace.
Let us set forth Christ, our King and Lord,
not depriving Him of His army. The saints
are His army. Let the earthly king strip
himself of his army, and then of his own
dignity. Let him put off the purple and the
diadem before he take honour away from his
most valiant men who have conquered their
passions.* For if the friends of Christ are
heirs of God and co-heirs of Christ, and are to
be partakers of the divine glory and kingdom,
is not even earthly glory due to them ? I call
you not servants, our Lord says ; you are my
friends. Shall we, then, withhold from them
the honour which the Church gives them ?
You are a bold and venturesome man to fight
against God and His ordinances. If you do
not worship images, you do not worship the
Son of God, who is the living image of the
invisible God, and the immutable figure of His
substance. The temple which Solomon built
was consecrated by the blood of animals, and
* yvfJLVuxrcLTft) tavrbv rov olKetov <TT par ev /tares 6 ejriyeios /3ao"tXei)j, KCLI
r6re rbv tavrov j3a<n\ta Kai Kvptov. 'ATrod^aOu TT]V a\ovpyi5a Kal TO
5taSrj/ma Kal r6re rdv Kara TOV rvpavvov api<TTcv<Tdi>TWt>, Kal p
TUV TraQ&v 0^/3a$
TREATISE ON IMAGES 75
decorated by images of lions, oxen, and the
palms and pomegranates. Now, the Church
is consecrated by the blood of Christ and of
His saints, and it is adorned with the image of
Christ and of His saints. Either take away
the worship of images altogether, or be not an
innovator, and pass not beyond the ancient
boundaries which thy fathers have set. I am
not speaking of boundaries prior to the incar
nation of Christ our Lord, but since His
coming. God spoke to them, depreciating the
traditions of the old law, saying, ' I also gave
them statutes that were not good,' on account
of their hardness of heart. Consequently on
the change of priesthood the law of necessity
was also changed.
The eye-witnesses and ministers of the word
handed down the teaching of the Church, not
only by writing, but also by unwritten tradition.
Whence comes our knowledge of the sacred
spot, Mount Calvary, of the holy sepulchre ?
Has it not been handed down to us from father
to son? It is written that our Lord was cruci
fied on Calvary, and buried in the tomb which
Joseph hewed out of the rock, but it is un
written tradition that teaches us we are adoring
76 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
the right places, and many other things of the
same kind. Why do we believe in three
baptisms, that is, in three immersions ? Why
do we adore the Cross ? Is it not through
tradition ? Therefore the holy apostle says :
* Brethren, stand fast ; and hold the traditions
which you have learned, whether by word, or
by our epistle.' Many things, therefore, being
handed down to the Church by unwritten
tradition and kept up to the present day, why
do you speak slightingly of images ? The
Manicheans followed a gospel according to
Thomas, and you will follow that of Leo. I
do not admit an emperor's tyrannical action
in domineering over the Church. The emperor
has not received the power to bind and loose.
I know of the Emperor Valens, a Christian in
name, who persecuted the true faith, Zeno
and Anastasius, Heraclius and Constantine of
Sicily, and Bardaniskus, called Philip (</>t\nnri
KOI/). I am not to be persuaded that the
Church is set in order by imperial edicts, but
by patristic traditions, written and unwritten.
As the written Gospel has been preached in
the whole world, so has it been an unwritten
tradition in the whole world to represent in
TREATISE ON IMAGES 77
image Christ, the incarnate God, and the saints,
to adore the Cross, and to pray towards the east.
The customs which you bring forward do
not incriminate our worship of images, but that
of the heathens who make idols of them. The
pious practice of the Church is not to be re
jected because of heathen abuse. Sorcerers
and magicians exorcise ; the Church exorcises
catechumens. The former invoke demons,
the Church calls upon God against demons.
Heathens sacrificed to demons ; Israel offered
to God both holocausts and victims. The
Church, too, offers an unbloody sacrifice to
God. Heathens set up images to demons,
and Israel made idols of them in the words,
'These are thy gods, O Israel, who brought
thee out of Egypt.' Now we have set up
images to the true God incarnate, to His
servants and friends, who have put the demon
host to flight. If you say to this that blessed
Epiphanius clearly rejected our use of images,
you must know that the work in question is
spurious and written by some one else in the
name of Epiphanius, as often happens. A
father does not fight his own children. All
have become participators in the one Spirit.
78 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
The Church is a witness of this in adorning
images, until some men rose up against her
and disturbed the peace of Christ's fold, putting
poisoned food before the people of God.
If I venerate and worship, as the instru
ments of salvation, the Cross and lance, and
reed and sponge, by means of which the Jews
(QeoKTovoi) scorned and put to death my Lord,
shall I not also worship images that Christians
make with a good intention for the glory and
remembrance of Christ ? If I worship the
image of the Cross, made of whatever wood
it may be, shall I not wrorship the image which
shows me the Crucified and my salvation
through the Cross ? Oh, inhumanity of man !
It is evident that I do not worship matter, for
supposing the Cross, if it be made of wood,
should fall to pieces, I should throw them into
the fire, and the same with images.
Receive the united testimony of Scripture
and the fathers to show you that images and
their worship are no new invention, but the
ancient tradition of the Church. In the holy
Gospel of St Matthew our Lord called His
disciples blessed, and with them all those who
followed their example and walked in their foot-
TREATISE ON IMAGES 79
steps in these words : ' Blessed are your eyes,
because they see, and your ears, because they
hear. For, amen I say to you, many prophets
and just men have desired to see the things
that you see, and have not seen them, and to
hear the things that you hear, and have not
heard them.' We also desire to see as much
as we may. ' We see now in a glass, darkly,'
and in image, and are blessed. God Himself
first made an image, and showed forth images.
For He made the first man after His own
image. And Abraham, Moses, and Isaias, and
all the prophets saw images of God, not the
substance of God. The burning bush was an
image of God's Mother, and as Moses was
about to approach it, God said : ' Put off the
shoes from thy feet, for the place whereon thou
standest is holy ground.' Now if the spot on
which Moses saw an image of Our Lady was
holy, how much more the image itself? And
not only is it holy, but I venture to say it is
the holy of holies (ayiwv ay/a). When the
Pharisees asked our Lord why Moses had
allowed a bill of divorce, He answered : * On
account of the hardness of your hearts Moses
allowed you to divorce your wife, but in the
80 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
beginning it was not so.' And I say to you
that Moses, through the children of Israel's
hardness of heart, and knowing their proclivity
to idolatry, forbade them to make images. We
are not in the same case. We have taken a
firm footing on the rock of faith, being en
riched with the light of God's friendship.
Listen to our Lord's words : ' Ye foolish and
blind, whosoever shall swear by the temple,
sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth in
it ; and he that sweareth by heaven sweareth
by the throne of God, and by Him that sitteth
thereon.' And he who swears by an image
swears by the one whom it represents. It has
been sufficiently proved that the tabernacle,
and the veil, the ark and the table, and every
thing within the tabernacle, were images and
types, and the works of man's hand, which
were worshipped by all Israel, and also that
the cherubim in carving were made by God's
order. For God said to Moses, ' See that
thou doest all things according to the pattern
shown to thee on the mount.' Listen, too, to
the apostle's testimony that Israel worshipped
images and the handiwork of man in obedi
ence to God : ' If, then, he were on earth he
TREATISE ON IMAGES 8 1
would not be a priest ; seeing that there would
be others to offer gifts according to the law,
who serve unto the example and shadow of
heavenly things, as it was answered to Moses,
when he was to finish the tabernacle : See
(says he) that thou make all things according
to the pattern which was shown thee on the
mount. But now he hath obtained a better
ministry> by how much also he is a mediator
of a better testament, which is established on
better promises. For if that former had been
faultless, there should not indeed a place
have been sought for a second. For finding
fault with them, he saith : * Behold the day
shall come, saith the Lord : and I will per
fect unto the house of Israel, and unto the
house of Juda, a New Testament : not accord
ing to the Testament which I made to their
fathers, on the day when I took them by the
hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt.'
And a little further on : ' Now in saying a New,
he hath made the former Old. And that
which decayeth and groweth old, is near its
end. For there was a tabernacle made the
first, wherein were the candlesticks, and the
table, and the setting forth of loaves, which
F
82 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
is called the Holy. And after the second veil,
the tabernacle, which is called the Holy of
Holies ; having a golden censer, and the ark
of the testament covered about on every part
with gold, in which was a golden pot that had
manna, and the rod of Aaron that had blos
somed, and the tables of the testament. And
over it were the cherubims of glory over
shadowing the propitiatory.' And again : ' For
Jesus is not entered into the Holies made
with hands, the patterns of the true ; but into
heaven itself.' And again : ' For the law having
a shadow of the good things to come, not the
very image of the things.'
You see that the law and everything it or
dained and all our own worship consist in the
consecration of what is made by hands, leading
us through matter to the invisible God. Now
the law and all its ordinances were a fore
shadowing of the image in the future, that is,
of our worship. And our worship is an image
of the eternal reward. As to the thing itself,
the heavenly Jerusalem, it is invisible and
immaterial, as the same divine apostle says :
' We have not here an abiding city, but we
seek for the one above, the heavenly Jeru-
TREATISE ON IMAGES 83
salem, of which God is Lord and Architect/
All ordinances of the law and of our worship
have been directed for that heavenly city. To
God be praise for ever. Amen.
TESTIMONY OF ANCIENT AND LEARNED
FATHERS TO IMAGES.*
St John Chrysostom. From His ' Commentary
on the Parable of the Sower!
If you despise the royal garment, do you
not despise the king himself? Do you not
see that if you despise the image of the king,
you despise the original ? Do you not know
that if a man shows contempt for an image
of wood or a statue of metal, he is not judged
as if he had vented himself on lifeless matter,
but as showing contempt for the king ?
Dishonour shown to an image of the king is
dishonour shown to the king.
The same, from his Sermon to St Meletius^
Bishop of Antioch, and on the zeal of
his hearers, beginning, ' Casting his eyes
everywhere on this holy flock. '
What took place was most edifying, and
* The first quotations are only repetitions, and are
consequently omitted.
84 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
we ought always to bear this consolation in
mind, and to have this saint before our eyes,
whose name was invoked against every bad
passion and specious argument. This was
so much the case that streets, market-place,
fields, every nook and corner rang with his
name. Not only have you longed to invoke
him, but to look upon his bodily form. As
with his name so with his image. Many
people have put it on their rings and goblets
and cups and on their bedroom walls, so as
not only to hear his history but to look upon
his physical likeness, and to have a double
consolation in his loss.*
St Maximus, Philosopher and Confessor. From
his 'Acts ' and those of Bishop Theodosius.
And after this all rose with tears of devotion,
and kneeling down, prayed. And every one
kissed the holy Gospels, and the sacred Cross,
and the image of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ, and of Our Lady, His Immaculate
Mother (-jravayias 0eoro/cou), putting their hands
to it in confirmation of what had been said.
' Two slight omissions, viz., St Chrysostom and St
Ambrose.
TREATISE ON IMAGES 85
Blessed Anastasius, Archbishop of Theopolis,
on the Sabbath, to Simeon, Bishop of
Bostris.
As in the king's absence his image is
honoured instead of himself, so in his presence
it would be unseemly to leave the original for
the image. This is not to say that what is
passed over in his presence should be dis
honoured. ... As the man who shows dis
respect to the king's image is punished as if
he had shown it to the king in very deed,
although the image is composed merely of
wood and paint moulded together, so one
who shows disrespect to the likeness of a man
means it for the original of the likeness.
PART III *
EVERY one must recognise that a man who
attempts to dishonour an image which has
been set up for the glory and remembrance of
Christ, of His holy Mother, or one of his saints,
is an enemy of Christ, of His holy Mother, and
the saints. It is also set up to shame the
devil and his crew, out of love and zeal for
God. The man who refuses to give this image
due, though not divine, honour, is an upholder
of the devil and his demon host, showing by
his act grief that God and the saints are
honoured and glorified, and the devil put to
shame. The image is a canticle and manifesta
tion and monument to the memory of those
who have fought bravely and won the victory
to the shame and confusion of the vanquished.
I have often seen lovers gazing at the loved
* A repetition up to t (x), where the translation begins.
88 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
one's garment, and embracing it with eyes and
mouth as if it was himself. We must give his
due to every man. St Paul says : ' Honour to
whom honour : to the king as excelling : or to
governors as sent by him,' to each according to
the measure of his dignity.
Where do you find in the Old Testament or
in the Gospel the Trinity, or consubstantiality,
or one Godhead, or three persons,* or the
one substance of Christ, or His two natures,
expressed in so many words ? Still, as they
are contained in what Scripture does say, and
defined by the holy fathers, we receive them
and anathematise those who do not. I prove
to you that in the old law God commanded
images to be made, first of all the tabernacle and
everything in it. Then in the gospel our
Lord Himself said to those who asked Him,
tempting, whether it was lawful to give tribute
to Caesar, * Bring me a coin, and they showed
Him a penny. And He asked them whose
likeness it was, and they said to Him, Caesar's ;
and He said, ' Give to Caesar that which is
Caesar's, and to God that which is God's.' As
the coin bears the likeness of Caesar, it is his,
TREATISE ON IMAGES 89
and you should give it to Caesar. So the
image bears the likeness of Christ, and you
should give it Him, for it is His.
Our Lord called His disciples blessed,
saying, ' Many kings and prophets have desired
to see what you see, and have not seen it, and
to hear what you hear and have not heard it.
Blessed are your eyes which see and your ears
which hear.' The apostles saw Christ with
their bodily eyes, and His sufferings and
wonders, and they listened to His words. We,
too, desire to see, and to hear, and to be
blessed. They saw Him face to face, as He
was present in the body. Now, since he is
not present in the body to us, we hear His
words from books and are sanctified in spirit by
the hearing, and are blessed, and we adore,
honouring the books which tell us of His
words. So, through the representation of
images, we look upon His bodily form, and
upon His miracles and His sufferings, and are
sanctified and satiated, gladdened and blessed.
Reverently we worship His bodily form, and
contemplating it, we form some notion of
His divine glory. For, as we are composed of
9O ST JOHN DAMASCENE
soul and body, and our soul does not stand
alone, but is, as it were, shrouded by a veil, it
is impossible for us to arrive at intellectual
conceptions without corporeal things. Just as
we listen with our bodily ears to physical words
and understand spiritual things, so, through
corporeal vision, we come to the spiritual. On
this account Christ took a body and a soul, as
man has both one and the other. And
baptism likewise is double, of water and the
spirit. So is communion and prayer and
psalmody ; everything has a double signifi
cation, a corporeal and a spiritual. Thus
again, with lights and incense. The devil has
tolerated all these things, raising a storm
against images alone. His great jealousy of
them may be learnt by what St Sophronius,
Patriarch of Jerusalem, recounts in his ' Spiritual
Garden.' Abbot Theodore ^Eliotes told of a
holy hermit on the Mount of Olives, who was
much troubled by the demon of fornication.
One day when he was sorely tempted, the old
man began to complain bitterly. ' When will
you let me alone ? ' he said to the devil :
4 begone from me ! you and I have grown old
together.' The devil appeared to him, saying,
TREATISE ON IMAGES 9!
' Swear to me that you will keep what I am
about to tell you to yourself, and I will not
trouble you any longer.' And the old man
swore it. Then the devil said to him, ' Do not
worship this image, and I will not harass you.'
The image in question represented Our Lady,
the holy Mother of God, bearing in her arms
our Lord Jesus Christ. You see what those
who forbid the worship of images hate in
reality, and whose instruments they are. The
demon of fornication strove to prevent the
worship of Our Lady's image rather than to
tempt the old man to impurity. He knew that
the former evil was greater than fornication.
As we are treating of images and their
worship, let us draw out the meaning more
accurately and say in the first place what an
image is ; (2) Why the image was made ; (3)
How many kinds of images there are ; (4)
What may be expressed by an image, and
what may not ; (5) Who first made images.
Again, as to worship : (i) What is worship;
(2) How many kinds of worship there are ;
(3) What are the things worshipped in
Scripture ; (4) That all worship is for God,
who is worshipful by nature ; (5) That hon-
92 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
our shown to the image is given to the
original.
ist Point. — What is an Image ?
An image is a likeness and representation
of some one, containing in itself the person
who is imaged. The image is not wont to
be an exact reproduction of the original. The
image is one thing, the person represented
another ; a difference is generally perceptible,
because the subject of each is the same. For
instance, the image of a man may give his
bodily form, but not his mental powers. It
has no life, nor does it speak or feel or move.
A son being the natural image of his father is
somewhat different from him, for he is a son,
not a father.
2nd Point. — For what purpose the Image
is made.
Every image is a revelation and representa
tion of something hidden. For instance, man
has not a clear knowledge of what is invisible,
the spirit being veiled to the body, nor of
future things, nor of things apart and distant,
because he is circumscribed by place and time.
TREATISE ON IMAGES 93
The image was devised for greater knowledge,
and for the manifestation and popularising of
secret things, as a pure benefit and help to
salvation, so that by showing things and
making them known, we may arrive at the
hidden ones, desire and emulate what is good,
shun and hate what is evil.
Point. — How many kinds of Images
there are.
Images are of various kinds. First there
is the natural image. In everything the
natural conception must be the first, then we
come to institution according to imitation.
The Son is the first natural and unchangeable
image of the invisible God, the Father, showing
the Father in Himself. ' For no man has seen
God.' Again, ' Not that any one has seen the
Father.' The apostle says that the Son is
the image of the Father, ' Who is the image
of the invisible God,' and to the Hebrews,
' Who being the brightness of His glory, and
the figure of His substance.' In the Gospel
of St John we find that He does show the
Father in Himself. When Philip said to Him,
' Show us the Father and it is enough for us,'
94 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
our Lord replied, ' Have I been so long with
you and have you not known Me, Philip ? He
who sees Me, sees the Father.' For the Son
is the natural image of the Father, unchange
able, in everything like to the Father, except
that He is begotten, and that He is not the
Father. The Father begets, being unbegotten.
The Son is begotten, and is not the Father,
and the Holy Spirit is the image of the Son.
For no one can say the Lord Jesus, except in
the Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit
we know Christ, the Son of God and God,
and in the Son we look upon the Father.
For in things that are conceived by nature,*
language is the interpreter, and spirit is the
interpreter of language. The Holy Spirit is
the perfect and unchangeable image of the
Son, differing only in His procession. The
Son is begotten, but does not proceed. And
the son of any father is his natural image.
Thus, the natural is the first kind of image.
The second kind of image is that fore
knowledge which is in God's mind concerning
future events, His eternal and unchanging
counsel. God is immutable and His counsel
* 0i'(rct yap
TREATISE ON IMAGES 95
without beginning, and as it has been de
termined from all eternity, it is carried out at
the time preordained by Him. Images and
figures of what He is to do in the future, the
distinct determination of each, are called pre
determinations by holy Dionysius. In His
counsels the things predetermined by Him
were characterised and imaged and immutably
fixed before they took place.
The third sort of image is that by imitation
(Kara jULi/uLrjanv) which God made, that is, man.
For how can what is created be of the same
nature as what is uncreated, except by imita
tion ? As mind, the Father, the Word, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit are one God, so
mind and word and spirit are one man,
according to God's will and sovereign rule.
For God says : ' Let us make man according
to our own image and likeness,' and He adds,
' and let him have dominion over the fishes
of the sea and the birds of the air, and the
whole earth, and rule over it.'
The fourth kind of image are the figures
and types set forth by Scripture of invisible
and immaterial things in bodily form, for a
clearer apprehension of God and the angels,
96 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
through our incapacity of perceiving immaterial
things unless clothed in analogical material
form, as Dionysius the Areopagite says, a man
skilled in divine things. Anyone would say
that our incapacity for reaching the con
templation of intellectual things, and our need
of familiar and cognate mediums, make it
necessary that immaterial things should be
clothed in form and shape. If, then, holy
Scripture adapts itself to us in seeking to
elevate us above sense, does it not make
images of what it clothes in our own medium,
and bring within our reach that which we
desire but are unable to see ? The spiritual *
writer, Gregory, says that the mind striving to
banish corporeal images reduces itself to in
capability. But from the creation of the
world the invisible things of God are made
clear by the visible creation. We see images
in created things, which remind us faintly of
divine tokens. For instance, sun and light
and brightness, the running waters of a per
ennial fountain, our own mind and language and
spirit, the sweet fragrance of a flowering rose-
tree, are images of the Holy and Eternal Trinity.
TREATISE ON IMAGES 97
The fifth kind of image is that which is
typical of the future, as the bush and the fleece,
the rod and the urn, foreshadowing the Vir
ginal Mother of God, and the serpent healing
through the Cross those bitten by the serpent
of old. Thus, again, the sea, and water and
the cloud foreshadow the grace of baptism.
The sixth kind of image is for a remem
brance of past events, of a miracle or a good
deed, for the honour and glory and abiding
memory of the most virtuous, or for the shame
and terror of the wicked, for the benefit of
succeeding generations who contemplate it, so
that we may shun evil and do good. This
image is of two kinds, either through the written
word in books, for the word represents the
thing, as when God ordered the law to be
written on tablets, and the lives of God-fearing
men to be recorded, or through a visible
object, as when He commanded the urn and
rod to be placed in the ark for a lasting
memory, and the names of the tribes to be
engraved on the stones of the humeral. And
also He commanded the twelve stones to be
taken from the Jordan as a sacred token.
Consider the prodigy, the greatest which befel
98 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
the faithful people, the taking of the ark, and
the parting of the waters. So now we set up
the images of valiant men for an example and
a remembrance to ourselves. Therefore, either
reject all images, and be in opposition to Him
who ordered these things, or receive each and
all with becoming greeting and manner.
Fourth Chapter. What an Image is, what it
is not ; and how each Image is to be set
forth.
Bodies as having form and shape and colour,
may properly be represented in image. Now
if nothing physical or material may be attri
buted to an angel, a spirit, and a devil, yet
they may be depicted and circumscribed after
their own nature. Being intellectual beings,
they are believed to be present and to energise
in places known to us intellectually. They
are represented materially as Moses made an
image of the cherubim who were looked upon
by those worthy of the honour, the material
image offering them an immaterial and intel
lectual sight. Only the divine nature is uncir-
cumscribed and incapable of being represented
in form or shape, and incomprehensible.
TREATISE ON IMAGES 99
If Holy Scripture clothes God in figures
which are apparently material, and can even
be seen, they are still immaterial. They were
seen by the prophets and those to whom they
were revealed, not with bodily but with intel
lectual eyes. They were not seen by all. In
a word it may be said that we can make
images of all the forms which we see. We
apprehend these as if they were seen. If at
times we understand types from reasoning,
and also from what we see, and arrive at
their comprehension in this way, so with every
sense, from what we have smelt, or tasted, or
touched, we arrive at apprehension by bringing
our reason to bear upon our experience.
We know that it is impossible to look upon
God, or a spirit, or a demon, as they are.
They are seen in a certain form, divine pro
vidence clothing in type and figure what is
without substance or material being, for our in
struction, and more intimate knowledge, lest we
should be in too great ignorance of God, and
of the spirit world. For God is a pure Spirit
by His nature. The angel, and a soul, and a
demon, compared to God, who alone is incom
parable, are bodies ; but compared to material
COLL CHRIST!
TOO ST JOHN DAMASCENE
bodies, they are bodiless. God therefore, not
wishing that we should be in ignorance of
spirits, clothed them in type and figure, and
in images akin to our nature, material forms
visible to the mind in mental vision. These we
put into form and shape, for how were the cheru
bim represented and described in image? But
Scripture offers forms and images even of God.
Who first made an Image.
In the beginning God begot His only be
gotten Son, His word, the living image of
Himself, the natural and unchangeable image
of His eternity. And He made man after
His own image and likeness. And Adam saw
God, and heard the sound of His feet as He
walked at even, and he hid in paradise. And
Jacob saw and struggled with God. It is
evident that God appeared to him in the form
of a man. And Moses saw Him, and Isaias
saw as it were the back of a man, and as a
man seated on a throne. And Daniel saw the
likeness of a man, and as the Son of Man
coming to the ancient of days. No one saw
the nature of God, but the type and image of
what was to be. For the Son and Word of
TREATISE ON IMAGES IOI
the invisible God, was to become man in truth,
that He might be united to our nature, and
be seen upon earth. Now all who looked upon
the type and image of the future, worshipped
it, as St Paul says in his epistle to the
Hebrews : ' All these died according to faith,
not having received the promises, but behold
ing them afar off, and saluting them.' Shall
I not make an image of Him who took the
nature of flesh for me ? Shall I not reverence
and worship Him, through the honour and
worship of His image? Abraham saw not
the nature of God, for no man ever saw God,
but the image of God, and falling down he
adored. Josue saw the image of an angel, not
as he is, for an angel is not visible to bodily eyes,
and falling down he adored, and so did Daniel.
Yet an angel is a creature, and servant, and
minister of God, not God. And he wor
shipped the angel not as God, but as God's
ministering spirit. And shall not I make
images of Christ's friends ? And shall I not
worship them as the images of God's friends,
not as gods ? Neither Josue nor Daniel wor
shipped the angels they saw as gods. Neither
do I worship the image as God, but through
IO2 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
the image of the saints too, show my worship
to God, because I honour His friends, and do
them reverence. God did not unite Himself
to the angelic nature, but to the human. He
did not become an angel : He became a man
in nature, and in truth. It is indeed Abraham's
seed which He embraces, not the angel's.
The Son of God in person did not take the
nature of the angels : He took the nature of
man. The angels did not participate in the
divine nature, but in working and in grace.
Now, men do participate, and become par
takers of the divine nature when they receive
the holy Body of Christ and drink His Blood.
For He is united in person to the Godhead,*
and two natures in the Body of Christ shared
by us are united indissolubly in person, and we
partake of the two natures, of the body bodily,
and of the Godhead in spirit, or, rather, of each
in both. We are made one, not in person,
for first we have a person and then we are
de6rr]Ti yap Kdff VTrocrracnv TjvuTai, Kai dvo 0u(rets iv
ffjutiv (rw/x,art rou xpiOToP, r)vo}/j.ei>ai K.a.6' vw
s, /ecu T&V dvo <pvo~eo}v \j^f.riyo^v , rov crw/mroj,
TT}S OeoTTjTos, Tr^eu^tari/ccDs'/xaAXoi' 5r) d/J.<f>oiv /car' ti/jifiu'ov Ka
TauTi^6fj.fvoi ' v<pi(TTd/j.e6a. yap irporov, Kai Tore cvovfjicda ' d\\a Kara
avvava.Kpaffiv TOV crw/j-aros Kai d't/^aros.
TREATISE ON IMAGES 1 03
united by blending together the body and the
blood. How are we not greater than the
angels, if through fidelity to the command
ments we keep this perfect union ? In itself
our nature is far removed from the angels,
on account of death and the heaviness of the
body, but through God's goodness and its
union with Him it has become higher than the
angels. For angels stand by that nature with
fear and trembling, as, in the person of Christ,
it sits upon a throne of glory, and they will
stand by in trembling at the judgment. Ac
cording to Scripture they are not partakers of
the divine glory. For they are all ministering
spirits, being sent to minister because of those
who are to be heirs of salvation, not that they
shall reign together, nor that they shall be
together glorified, nor that they shall sit at the
table of the Father. The saints, on the contrary,
are the children of God, the children of the
kingdom, heirs of God, and co-heirs of Christ.
Therefore, I honour the saints, and glorify the
servants and friends and co-heirs of Christ :
servants by nature, friends by their choice :
friends and co-heirs by divine grace, as our
Lord said in speaking to the Father.
IO4 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
As we are speaking of images, let us speak
of worship also, and in the first place determine
what it is.
On Adoration. What is Adoration ?
Adoration is a token of subjection, — that is,
of submission and humiliation. There are
many kinds of adoration.
On the kinds of Adoration.
The first kind is the worship of latreia,
which we give to God, who alone is adorable
by nature, and this worship is shown in several
ways, and first by the worship of servants. All
created things worship Him, as servants their
master. All things serve Thee, the psalm says.
Some serve willingly, others unwillingly ; some
with full knowledge, willingly, as in the case of
the devout, others knowing, but not willing,
against their will, as the devil's. Others, again,
not knowing the true God, worship in spite of
themselves Him whom they do not know.
The second kind is the worship of admiration
and desire which we give to God on account of
His essential glory. He alone is worthy of
praise, who receives it from no one, being
Himself the cause of all glory and all good,
TREATISE ON IMAGES 1 05
He is light, incomprehensible sweetness, in
comparable, immeasurable perfection, an ocean
of goodness, boundless wisdom, and power,
who alone is worthy of Himself to excite
admiration, to be worshipped, glorified, and
desired.
The third kind of worship is that of thanks
giving for the goods we have received. We
must thank God for all created things, and
show Him perpetual worship, as from Him and
through Him all creation takes its being and
subsists. He gives lavishly of His gifts to all,
and without being asked. He wishes all to be
saved, and to partake of His goodness. He is
long-suffering with us sinners. He allows His
sun to shine upon the just and unjust, and His
rain to fall upon the wicked and the good alike.
And being the Son of God, He became one of
us for our sakes, and made us partakers of His
divine nature, so that we shall be like unto
Him, as St John says in his Catholic
epistle.
The fourth kind is suggested by the need
and hope of benefits. Recognising that without
Him we can neither do nor possess anything
good, we worship Him, asking Him to satisfy
IO6 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
our needs and desires, that we may be preserved
from evil and arrive at good.
The fifth kind is the worship of contrition
and confession. As sinners we worship God,
and prostrate ourselves before Him, needing
His forgiveness, as it becomes servants. This
happens in three ways. A man may be sorry
out of love, or lest he should lose God's benefits,
or for fear of chastisement. The first is
prompted by goodness and desire for God
himself, and the condition of a son : the second
is interested, the third is slavish.
What we find worshipped in Scripture, and
in how many ways we show worship to
creatures.
First, those places in which God, who alone
is holy, has rested, and His resting-place in the
saints, as in the holy Mother of God and in all
the saints. These are they who are made like
to God as far as possible, of their own free
will, and by God's indwelling, and by His
abiding grace. They are truly called gods,
not by nature, but by participation ; just as
red-hot iron is called fire, not by nature, but
by participation in the fire's action. He says :
TREATISE ON IMAGES IO7
1 Be ye holy because I am holy.' The first
thing is the free choice of the will. Then, in
the case of a good choice, God helps it on
and confirms it. ' I will take up my abode in
them,' He says. * We are the temples of God,
and the Spirit of God dwells in us.' Again,
He gave them power over unclean spirits, to
cast them out, and to heal all manner of dis
eases, and all manner of infirmities. And again,
' That which I do you shall do, and greater
things.' Again : ' As I live,' God says, ' who
soever shall glorify Me, him will I glorify.'
Again : If we suffer with Him that we may
be also glorified with Him. And 'God stood'
in the synagogue of the gods ; in the midst
of it He points out the gods. As, then, they
are truly gods, not by nature, but as partakers
of God's nature, so they are to be worshipped,
not as worshipful on their own account, but as
possessing in themselves Him who is worship
ful by nature. Just in the same way iron when
ignited is not by nature hot and burning to the
touch, it is the fire which makes it so. They
are worshipped as exalted by Gocl, as through
Him inspiring fear to His enemies, and be
coming benefactors to the faithful. It is love
108 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
of God which gives them their free access to
Him, not as gods or benefactors by nature,
but as servants and ministers of God. We
worship them, then, as the king is honoured
through the honour given to a loved servant.
He is honoured as a minister in attendance upon
his master — as a valued friend, not as king.
The prayers of those who approach with faith
are heard, whether through the servant's inter
cession with the king, or whether through the
king's acceptance of the honour and faith
shown by the servant's petitioner, for it was
in his name that the petition was made. Thus,
those who approached through the apostles
obtained their cures. Thus the shadow, and
winding - sheets, and girdles of the apostles
worked healings. Those who perversely and
profanely wish them to be adored as gods are
themselves damnable, and deserve eternal fire.
And those who in the false pride of their
hearts disdain to worship God's servants are
convicted of impiety towards God. The children
who derided and laughed to scorn Elisseus
bear witness to this, inasmuch as they were
devoured by bears.
Secondly, we worship creatures by honour-
TREATISE ON IMAGES
ing those places or persons whom God has
associated with the work of our salvation,
whether before our Lord's coming or since
the dispensation of His incarnation. For in
stance, I venerate Mount Sinai, Nazareth, the
stable at Bethlehem, and the cave, the sacred
mount of Golgotha, the wood of the Cross,
the nails and sponge and reed, the sacred
and saving lance, the dress and tunic, the
linen cloths, the swathing clothes, the holy
tomb, the source of our resurrection, the
sepulchre, the holy mountain of Sion and the
mountain of Olives, the Pool of Bethsaida and
the sacred garden of Gethsemane, and all
similar spots. I cherish them and every holy
temple of God, and everything connected with
God's name, not on their own account, but
because they show forth the divine power, and
through them and in them it pleased God to
bring about our salvation. I venerate and
worship angels and men, and all matter partici
pating in divine power and ministering to our
salvation through it. I do not worship the
Jews. They are not participators in divine
power, nor have they contributed to my salva
tion. They crucified my God, the King of
HO ST JOHN DAMASCENE
Glory, moved rather by envy and hatred against
God their Benefactor. ' Lord, I have loved
the beauty of Thy house,' says David, 'we
will adore in the place where His feet stood.
And adore at His holy mountain/ The holy
Mother of God is the living holy mountain of
God. The apostles are the teaching moun
tains of God. ' The mountains skipped like
rams, and the hills like the lambs of the
flock.'
The third kind of worship is directed to
objects dedicated to God, as, for instance, the
holy Gospels and other sacred books. They
were written for our instruction who live in
these latter days. Sacred vessels, again,
chalices, thuribles, candelabra, and altars (rpaire
fat) belong to this category. It is evident
that respect is due to them all. Consider how
Baltassar made the people use the sacred
vessels, and how God took away his kingdom
from him.
The fourth kind of worship is that of images
seen by the prophets. They saw God in sen
sible vision, and images of future things, as
Aaron's rod, the figure of Our Lady's virginity,
the urn, and the table. And Jacob worshipped
TREATISE ON IMAGES I I I
on the point (eVl TO aKpov) of his rod. He was
a type of our Lord. Images of past events
recall their remembrance. The tabernacle was
an image of the whole world. * See,' God said
to Moses, ' the type which was shown to thee
on the mountain, and the golden cherubim, the
work of sculpturers, and the cherubim within
the veil of woven work.' Thus we adore the
sacred figure of the Cross, the likeness of our
God's bodily features, the likeness of her who
bore Him, and all belonging to Him.
The fifth manner is in the worship of each
other as having upon us the mark of God and
being made after His image, humbling our
selves mutually, and so fulfilling the law of
charity.
The sixth manner is the worship of those in
power who have authority. ' Give to all men
their dues,' the apostle says; 'give honour
where it is due.' This Jacob did in worship
ping Esau as his elder brother, and Pharao
the ruler established by God.
In the seventh place, the worship of servants
towards their masters and benefactors, and
of petitioners towards those who grant their
favours, as in the case of Abraham when he
112 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
bought the double cave from the sons of
Emmor.
It is needless to say that fear, desire, and
honour are tokens of worship, as also submis
sion and humiliation. No one should be wor
shipped as God except the one true God.
Whatever is due to all the rest is for God's
sake.
You see what great strength and divine zeal
are given to those who venerate the images of
the saints with faith and a pure conscience.
Therefore, brethren, let us take our stand on
the rock of the faith, and on the tradition of the
Church, neither removing the boundaries laid
down by our holy fathers of old, nor listening
to those who would introduce innovation and
destroy the economy of the holy Catholic and
Apostolic Church of God. If any man is to
have his foolish way, in a short time the whole
organisation of the Church will be reduced to
nothing. Brethren and beloved children of the
Church do not put your mother to shame, do
not rend her to pieces. Receive her teaching
through me. Listen to what God says of her :
* Thou art all fair, O my love, and there is not
a spot in thee.' Let us worship and adore our
TREATISE ON IMAGES
God and Creator as alone worthy of worship
by nature, and let us worship the holy Mother
of God, not as God, but as God's Mother
according to the flesh. Let us worship the
saints also, as the chosen friends of God, and
as possessing access to Him. If men worship
kings subject to corruption, who are often bad
and impious, and those ruling or deputed in
their name, as the holy apostle says, ' Be
subject to princes and powers,' and again,
* Give to all their due, to one honour, to
another fear,' and our Lord, ' Give to Caesar
that which is Caesar's, and to God that which
is God's/ how much more should we worship
the King of Kings ? He alone is God by
nature ; and we should worship His servants
and friends who reign over their passions and
are constituted rulers of the whole earth.
' Thou shalt make them princes over all the
earth,' says David. They receive power
against demons and against disease, and with
Christ they reign over an incorruptible and
unchangeable kingdom. Their shadow alone
has put forth disease and demons. Should we
not deem a shadow a slighter and weaker thing
than an image ? Yet it is a true outline of the
H
ST OHN DAMASCENE
original. Brethren, the Christian is faith. * He
who walks by faith gains many things. The
doubter, on the contrary, is as a wave of the
sea torn and tossed ; he profits nothing. All
the saints pleased God by faith. Let us then
receive the teaching of the Church in simplicity
of heart without questioning. God made man
sane and sound. It was man who was over
curious. Let us not seek to learn a new faith,
destructive of ancient tradition, St Paul says,
'If a man teach any other Gospel than
what he has been taught, let him be anathema.'
Thus, we worship images, and it is not a
worship of matter, but of those whom matter
represents. The honour given to the image is
referred to the original, as holy Basil rightly
says.
And may Christ fill you with the joy of His
resurrection, most holy flock of Christ,
Christian people, chosen race, body of the
Church, and make you worthy to walk in the
footsteps of the saints, of the shepherds and
teachers of the Church, leading you to enjoy
His glory in the brightness of the saints. May
you gain His glory for eternity, with the
* 'A5e\0ol, 6 x/HOTiaj'ds, TTI'CTTIS ecrrtV.
TREATISE ON IMAGES I I 5
Uncreated Father, to whom be praise for ever.
Amen.
Speaking on the distinction between images
and idols, and defining what images are, it is
time to give proofs in question, according to our
promise.*
* A few Testimonies have been suppressed as un
suitable or irrelevant, viz. : —
1. St Basil on St Barlaam (in order) 2.
2. St Gregory of Nyssa. On Isaac and Abraham (5)
Repetition.
3. Severianus on the Cross (7) Repetition.
4. From Life of St Chrysostom (8) Repetition.
5. Eusebius on the Woman with an Issue of Blood (22).
6. Eusebius on Constantine (23).
7. St Gregory Nazianzen, from his Discourse to Julian
the Apostle (2 lines) (24).
8. St Chrysostom, Commentary on Job (25).
9. St Chrysostom on Constantine, four quotations (26).
10. Theodoret of Syrus on Ezechiel (27)
11. From the Acts of St Placid (28).
12. Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret (35).
13. St Athanasius of Mount Sinai (36).
14. Arcadius, Abp. of Cyprus, on Simeon the Wonder
worker (37).
15. St Chrysostom, Homily (38).
1 6. Theodoret, Ecclesiastical History : six short quota
tions (39).
17. St Chrysostom on St Flavian and Homily (40).
1 8. St Basil on Forty Martyrs, Repetition (41).
Il6 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
TESTIMONY OF ANCIENT AND LEARNED
FATHERS CONCERNING IMAGES.
St Denis, Bishop of Athens, from his letter to
St John the Apostle and Evangelist.
Sensible images do indeed show forth in
visible things.
The same, from his Homily on the Eccle
siastical Hierarchy.
The substances and orders to which we have
already alluded with reverence, are spirits, and
they are set forth in spiritual and immaterial
array. We can see it when brought down to
19. St Gregory Nazianzen, ex Carminibus (42).
20. St Chrysostom, Commentary on St Paul (43).
21. From the Sixth General Council (44).
22. St Clement, Stromata (45)
23. St Theodore, Bishop of Pentapolis (46).
24. St Basil to St Flavian (51).
25. St Gregory Nazianzen on Baptism (52).
26. St Isidore the Deacon, Chronography (57).
27. From the Fifth General Council (62).
28. Theodore, Ecclesiastical History (63).
29. Abbot Maximus. Repetition (64).
30. St Sophronius, Acts of SS. Cyrus and John (65).
31. From the Life of St Eupraxia (69).
32. On the Fifth General Council (70).
TREATISE ON IMAGES
our medium, symbolised in various forms, by
which we are led up to the mental contempla
tion of God and divine goodness. Spirits
think of Him as spirits according to their
nature, but we are led as far as may be by
sensible images to the divine contemplation.
Commentary. — If, then, we are led by the
medium of sensible images to divine contem
plation, what unseemliness is there in making
an image of Him Who was seen in the form,
and habit, and nature of man for our sakes ?
St Basil, from his Homily on the Forty
Martyrs.
The fortunes of war are wont to supply
matter both for orators and painters. Orators
describe them in glowing language, painters
depict them on their canvas, and both have led
many on to deeds of fortitude. That which
words are to the ear, that the silent picture
points out for imitation.
The same, on the Thirty Chapters on the
Holy Ghost to Amphilochios, \&th Answer.
The image of the king is also called the king,
and there are not two kings. Neither power
Il8 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
is broken, nor is glory divided. As we are ruled
by one government and authority, so our
homage is one, not many. Thus the honour
given to the image is referred to the original.
That which the image represents by imitation
on earth, that the Son is by nature in Heaven.
Commentary. — Just, then, as he who does
not honour the Son does not honour the Father
who sent Him, as our Lord says, so he who
does not honour the image does not honour
the original. Still some one says, * We cannot
refuse to honour the image of Christ, but we
will not have the saints.' What folly ! Listen
to what our Lord says to His disciples : ' He
who receives you receives Me,' so that the man
who does not honour the saints does not
honour Christ either.
St John Chrysostom, from his ' Commentary on
the Epistle to the Hebrews!
How can what precedes be an image of what
follows, as, for instance, Melchisedech of Christ ?
Just in the same way as a sketch would be an
outline of the picture. On this account the
old law is called a shadow, and the new — the
truth and what is to come — certainties. Thus
TREATISE ON IMAGES I 1 9
Melchisedech, who represents the law, is a
foreshadowing of the picture. The new dis
pensation is the truth ; the picture fully com
pleted shows forth eternity. We might call
the old dispensation a type of a type, and the
new a type of the things themselves.
From the Spiritual History of Theodore, Bishop
of Cyrus. From the ' Life of St Simon
Stylites?
It is superfluous to speak of Italy. They say
that this man became so well known in the
great city of Rome, that small statues were
erected to him in all the porticos of workshops,
as a certain protection to them, and a guarantee
of security.
St Basil, from his ' Commentary on Isaias!
When the devil saw man made after God's
image and likeness, as he could not fight against
God, he vented his wickedness on the image of
God. In the same way an angry man might
stone the King's image, because he cannot
stone the King, striking the wood which bears
his likeness.
Commentary. — Thus, every man who honours
the image must necessarily honour the original.
120 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
The same.
Just as the man who shows contempt for the
royal image is held to show it for the King
himself, so is he convicted of sin who shows
contempt for man made after an image.
St Athanasius, from the Hundred Chapters
addressed to Antiochus, the Prefect, accord
ing to Question and Answer. — Chap,
xxxviii.
Answer. — We, who are of the faithful, do
not worship images as gods, as the heathens
did, God forbid, but we mark our loving
desire alone to see the face of the person
represented in image. Hence, when it is
obliterated, we are wont to throw the image
as so much wood into the fire. Jacob, when
he was about to die, worshipped on the point
of Joseph's staff, not honouring the staff but its
owner. Just in the same way do we greet
images as we should embrace our children and
parents to signify our affection. Thus the Jew,
too, worshipped the tablets of the law, and the
two golden cherubim in carved work, not
TREATISE ON IMAGES 121
because he honoured gold or stone for itself,
but the Lord who had ordered them to be
made.
St John Chrysostom, on the ' Third Psalm, on
David, and Absalom?
Kings put victorious trophies before their
conquering generals ; rulers erect proud monu
ments to their charioteers, and brave men, and
with the epitaph as a crown, use matter for
their triumph. Others, again, write the praises
of conquerors in books, wishing to show that
their own gift in praising is greater than those
praised. And orators and painters, sculpturers
and people, rulers, and cities, and places acclaim
the victorious. No one ever made images of the
deserter or the coward.
St Cyril of Alexandria, from his ' Address to
the Emperor Theodosius"
If images represent the originals, they should
call forth the same reverence.
The same, from his ' Treasures!
Images are ever the likenesses of their
originals.
122 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
The same, from his Poem, on the ' Revelation
of Christ being signified through all the
Teaching of Moses. On Abraham and
Melchisedech.' — Chap. vi.
Images should be made after their originals.
St Gregory of Nazianzen, from His Sermon
on the ' Son! it.
An image is essentially a representation of
its original.
St Chrysostom,from his Third ' Commentary on
the Colossians!
The image of what is invisible, were it also
invisible, would cease to be an image. An
image, as far as it is an image, should be kept
inviolably by us, owing to the likeness it
represents.
The same, from his ' Commentary on the
Hebrews! — Chap. xvii.
As in images the image presents the form of
a man, though not his strength, so the original
and the likeness have much in common, for the
likeness is the man.
TREATISE ON IMAGES 123
Eusebius Pamphilius, from the Fifth Book
of his Gospel Proofs, on ' God appeared to
Abraham by the Oak of Mambre?
Hence, even now the inhabitants cherish the
place where visions appeared to Abraham, as
divinely consecrated. The turpentine tree is
still to be seen, and those who received
Abraham's hospitality are painted in picture,
one on each side, and the stranger of greatest
dignity in the middle. He would be an image
of our Lord and Saviour, whom even rude men
reverence, Whose divine words they believe.
It was He who, through Abraham, sowed the
seeds of piety in men. In the likeness and
habit of an ordinary man He presented himself
to Abraham,* and gave him knowledge of His
Father.
John of Antioch, also called Malala, from his
Chronography concerning the ' Woman
with the Issue of Blood, who erected a
Monument to Christ?
From that time John the Baptist became
known to men, and Herod, toparcha of the
124 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
Trachonitis region beheaded him in the city
of Sebaste, on the eighth day of the kalends
of June, Flaccus and Ruffinus being consuls.
King Herod, Philip's son, in grief at this event,
left Judea. A rich woman, Berenice by name,
who was also living at Paneada, sought him
out wishing as she had been cured by Jesus,
to erect a monument to Him. Not daring to
do it without the king's consent, she presented
a petition to King Herod, asking to be allowed
to erect a golden monument in that city to our
Lord. The petition ran thus :—
To the august Herod, toparcha, law-giver
of Jews and Greeks, King of Trachonitis, a
suppliant petition from Berenice, an inhabitant
of Paneada. You are crowned with justice
and mercy and all other virtues. Knowing
this and in good hope of success, I am writing
to you. If you read my beginning you will
soon be instructed as to facts. From child
hood I suffered with an issue of blood, and
spent my time and my substance on doctors,
and was not cured. Hearing of the wonder
working Christ, how He raised the dead
to life again, put forth devils, and cured the
sick by one word, I also went to Him as to
TREATISE ON liMAGES 125
God. And approaching the crowd which
surrounded Him fearing lest He should turn
me away in anger on account of my complaint,
and that I should feel it more, I said to myself,
4 If I could only touch the border of His gar
ment, I should be cured.' I had no sooner
touched it than the haemorrhage stopped, and
I was cured on the spot. And He, as if He
had read my heart's desire, said aloud, ' Who
has touched Me ? Power has gone out of Me ! '
And I pale and trembling, thinking to throw
off my sickness the sooner, prostrated myself
at His feet, bathing the ground with my tears,
and confessed my action. He in His goodness
compassionating me, assured me of my cure,
saying : ' Be of good heart, daughter, thy faith
has healed thee. Go in peace ! ' Do you now,
august ruler, grant my righteous petition.
King Herod receiving this petition, was struck
with wonder and in awe at the cure, replied :
4 The cure wrought for you, O woman, deserves
a splendid monument. Go then and put up
any memorial you like to Him, in praise of
the Healer.' And immediately Berenice the
sick woman of yore, set up in the midst of
her own city of Paneada a monument in bronze,
26 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
adorned with gold and silver. It is still stand
ing in the city of Paneada. Not long ago it
was taken from the place where it stood to
the middle of the city, and placed in a house
of prayer. One, Batho, a converted Jew,
found it mentioned in a book which contained
an account of all those who had reigned over
Judea.
From the ' Ecclesiastical History of Socrates, '
Book L Chap, xviii., on the Emperor Con-
stantine.
After this the Emperor Constantine, being
most zealous for the Christian religion, de
stroyed heathen observances, and prohibited
single combats, whilst he set up his images
in the temples.
Stephen Bostr ernes, against the Jews.—
Chap. iv.
We have made the images of the saints
for a remembrance of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
Moses, and Elias and Zachary, and of other
prophets and holy martyrs, who gave their
life for Him. Every one who looks at their
images may thus be reminded of them and
glorify Him who glorifies them.
TREATISE ON IMAGES 127
The same.
As to images let us take courage that every
work done in God's name is good and holy.
Now as to idols and statues, beware, they are
all bad, both the things and their makers. An
image of a holy prophet is one thing, a statue
or carved figure of Saturn or Venus, the sun
or the moon, quite another. As man was made
after God's image, he is worshipped ; but the
serpent as the image of the devil, is unclean
and execrable. Tell me, O Jew, if you reject
man's handiwork, what is left on earth to be
worshipped which is not the work of his hand ?
Was not the ark made by hands, and the altar,
the propitiatory and the cherubim, the golden
urn containing the manna, the table and the
inner tabernacle, and all that God ordered to
be put in the holy of Holies ? Were not the
cherubim the images of angels made by
hands ? Do you call them idols ? What do
you say to Moses who worshipped them and
to Israel ? Worship is symbolical of honour,
and we sinners worship God, and glorify Him
by the divine worship of latreia which is due
to Him, and we tremble before Him as our
128 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
Creator. We worship the angels and servants
of God for His sake, as creatures and servants
of God. An image is a name and likeness of
him it represents. Thus both by writing and
by engraving we are ever mindful of our Lord's
sufferings, and of the holy prophets in the old
law and in the new.
St Leontius of Naples, in Cyprus, against the
Jews — Book v.
Enter then heartily into our apology for the
making of sacred images, so that the mouths
of foolish people speaking injustice may be
closed. This tradition comes from the old
law, not from us. Listen to God's command
to Moses that he should make two cherubim
wrought in metal to overshadow the pro
pitiatory. And again, God showed the temple
to Ezechiel, with its carved faces of lions,
forms of palms and men from floor to ceiling.
The command is truly awe-inspiring. God,
who enjoins Israel not to make any graven
thing, likeness or image of anything in heaven
or on earth, also orders Moses to make
carved cherubim. God shows the temple to
TREATISE ON IMAGES 1 29
Ezechiel, full of images and sculptured like
nesses of lions, palms, and men. And
Solomon, in conformity to the law, filled the
temple with metal figures of oxen, palms, and
men, and God did not reproach him for it.
Now, if you wish to reproach me concerning
images, you condemn God, who ordered these
things to be made that they might remind us
of Himself.
The same, from the $rd Book.
Again, atheists mock at us concerning the
Holy Cross and the worship of divine images,
calling us idolaters and worshippers of wooden
gods. Now, if I am a worshipper of wood,
as you say, I am a worshipper of many, and,
if so, I should swear by many, and say, ' By
the gods,' just as you at the sight of one calf
said, ' These are thy gods, O Israel.' You
could not maintain that Christian lips had
used the expression, but the adulterous and
unbelieving synagogue is wont ever to cast
infamy upon the all-wise Church of Christ.
The same.
We do not adore as gods the figures and
i
130 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
images of the saints. For if it was the mere
wood of the image that we adored as God,
we should likewise adore all wood, and not, as
often happens, when the form grows faint,
throw the image into the fire. And again,
as long as the wood remains in the form of a
cross, I adore it on account of Christ who
was crucified upon it. When it falls to pieces,
I throw them into the fire. Just as the man
who receives the sealed orders of the king
and embraces the seal, looks upon the dust
and paper and wax as honourable in their
reference to the king's service, so we Christians,
in worshipping the Cross, do not worship the
wood for itself, but seeing in it the impress
and seal and figure of Christ Himself, crucified
through it and on it, we fall down and adore.
The same.
On this account I depict Christ and His
sufferings in churches, and houses, and public
places, and images, on clothes, and store-houses,
and in every available place, so that ever
before me, I may bear them in lasting memory,
and not be unmindful, as you are, of my
Lord God. In worshipping the book of the
TREATISE ON IMAGES 131
law, you are not worshipping parchment or
colour, but God's words contained in it. So
do I worship the image of Christ, neither wood
nor colouring for themselves. Adoring an
inanimate figure of Christ through the Cross,
I seem to possess and to adore Christ. Jacob
received Joseph's cloak of many colours from
his brothers who had sold him, and he caressed
it with tears as he gazed at it. He did not
weep over the cloak, but considered it a way
of showing his love for Joseph and of
embracing him. Thus do we Christians
embrace with our lips the image of Christ,
or the apostles, or the martyrs, whilst in
spirit we deem that we are embracing Christ
Himself or His martyr. As I have often
said, the end in view must always be con
sidered in all greeting and worship. If you
upbraid me because I worship the wood of
the Cross, why do you not upbraid Jacob
for worshipping on the point of Joseph's
staff? (ejrl TO aKpov -n}? pdftSov). It is evident
that it was not the wood he honoured by
his worship, but Joseph, as we adore Christ
through the Cross. Abraham worshipped im
pious men who sold him the cave, and bent
132 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
his knee to the ground, yet he did not worship
them as gods. And again, Jacob magnified
impious Pharao and idolatrous Esau seven
times, yet not as God. How many salutations
and worshippings I have put before you, both
natural and scriptural, which are not to be
condemned, and you no sooner see any one
worshipping the image of Christ or His
Immaculate (Ttavayias) Mother or a saint than
you are angry and blaspheme and call me
an idolater. Have you no shame, seeing me
as you do day by day pulling down the
temples of idols in the whole world and raising
churches to martyrs ? If I worship idols,
why do I honour martyrs, their destroyers ?
If I glorify wood, as you say, why do I honour
the saints who have pulled down the wooden
statues of demons? If I glorify stones, how
can I glorify the apostles who broke the stone
idols ? If I honour the images of false gods,
how can I praise and glorify and keep the
feast of the three children at Babylon who
would not worship the golden statue ? How
greatly foolish people err, and how blind they
are ! What shamelessness is yours, O Jew !
what impiety ! You sin indeed against the
TREATISE ON IMAGES 133
truth. Arise, O God, and justify Thy cause.
Judge and justify us from people, not all
people, but from senseless and hostile people
who constantly provoke Thee.
The same.
If, as I have often said, I worshipped wood
and stone as God, I, too, should say to each,
'Thou hast brought me forth.' If I worship
the images of the saints, or rather the saints,
and worship and reverence the combats of the
holy martyrs, how can you call these idols,
senseless man ? For idols are likenesses of
false gods and adulterers, murderers and luxu
rious men, not of prophets or apostles. Listen
whilst I take a telling and most true example
of Christian and heathen images. The Chal
deans in Babylon had all sorts of musical in
struments for the worship of idols who were
devils, and the children of Israel had brought
musical instruments from Jerusalem, which they
hung upon the willow trees, and the instru
ments of both lutes and stringed instruments
and flutes gave forth their music, these for the
glory of God, the others for the service of
devils. So must you look upon images and
134 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
idols of heathens and Christians. Heathen
idols were for the glory and remembrance of
the devil ; Christian images are for the glory
of Christ, and of His apostles and martyrs and
saints.
The same.
When, then, you see a Christian worshipping
the Cross, know that his adoration is not given
to the wood, but to Christ Crucified. We
might as well worship all wood, as Israel
worshipped woods and trees, saying, * Thou
art my God, and Thou hast brought me forth.'
It is not so with us. We keep in churches
and in our houses a remembrance and a repre
sentation of our Lord's sufferings and of those
who fought for Him, doing everything for our
Lord's sake.
Once more. Tell me, O Jew, what law
authorised Moses to worship Jethor, his
brother-in-law, and an idolater ? Or Jacob to
worship Pharao, and Abraham the sons of
Emmor? They were just men and prophets.
Again, Daniel worshipped the impious Nabu-
chodonosor. For if they so acted on account
of life in this world, why do you reproach
TREATISE ON IMAGES 135
me for worshipping the holy memories of the
saints, whether in books or pictures, their
combats and sufferings, which are a daily
source of good to me, and will help me to
lasting and eternal life ?
Saint Athanasius against the Arians. —
Book Hi.
The Son being of the same substance as the
Father, He can justly say that He has what
the Father has. Hence it was fitting and
proper that after the words ' I and the Father
are one,' he should add, ' that you may know
that I am in the Father and the Father in
Me.' He had already said the same thing.
1 He who sees Me sees the Father.' There
is one and the same mind in these three
sayings. To know that the Father and the
Son are one is to know that he is in the
Father and the Father in the Son. The God
head of the Son is the Godhead of the Father.
The man who receives this understands ' that
he who sees the Son sees the Father.' For
the Godhead of the Father is seen in the
Son. This will be easier to understand from
the example of the king's image which shows
136 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
forth his form and likeness. The king is the
likeness of his image. The likeness of the
king is indelibly impressed upon the image,
so that any one looking at the image sees the
king, and again, any one looking at the king
recognises that the image is his likeness. Be
ing an indelible likeness, the image might
answer a man, who expressed the wish to see
the king after contemplating it, by saying,
* The king and I are one. I am in him and
he is in me. That which you see in me you
see in him, and the man who looks upon him
looks at the same in me.' He who worships
the image worships the king in it. The image
is his form and likeness.
The same, to Antiochus the Ruler.
What do our adversaries say to these things,
they who maintain that we should not worship
the effigies of the saints, which are preserved
amongst us for a remembrance of them.
St Ambrose of Milan, to the Emperor Gratian
concerning the Incarnation of God the
Word.
God before flesh was made, and God in the
TREATISE ON IMAGES 137
flesh. There is a fear lest, abstracting the
double principle of action and wisdom from
Christ, we should glorify a mutilated Christ.
Now, is it possible to divide Christ whilst we
adore His Godhead and His flesh? Do we
divide Him when we adore at once the image
of God and the Cross ? God forbid.
St Cyril of Jerusalem, twelfth Instruction.
If you seek the cause of Christ's presence,
go back to the first chapter of Scripture. God
made the world in six days, but the world was
made for man. The most brilliant sun glow
ing with light was made for man. And all
living things were created for our service, trees
and flowers for our enjoyment. All created
things were beautiful, yet only man was the
image of God. The sun arose by command
alone : man was moulded by the Divine Hand.
' Let us make man to our image and likeness.'
The wooden image of an earthly king is
honoured, how much more the rational image
of God ?
St Jo/in Chrysostom, on the Machabees.
The royal effigies are shown forth not only on
138 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
gold and silver, and the most costly materials,
but the royal form itself, even on copper. The
difference of matter does not affect the dignity
of the character impressed, nor does a viler
material diminish the honour of what is great.
The royal figure is always a consecration ; not
lessened by matter, it exalts matter.
The same, against Julian the Apostate. — \st
Book.
What does this new Nabuchodonosor want ?
He has not shown himself kinder to us than
Nabuchodonosor of old, whose furnace still
pierces us through, although we have escaped
from its flames. Do not the shrines of saints
in churches, inviting the worship of the faithful,
show forth the destruction of the body ? *
The same, on the Piscina.
Just as when the royal effigy and image is
sent or carried into the city, rulers and people
go out to meet it with respect and reverence,
not honouring the wooden receptacle, or the
waxen representation, but the person of the
king ; so is it with created things.
* otfx* KO.I TO, Ava.d-fjiJio.ra TWV ayiuv <?TT' tKK\-r)<rtaiS Kel/j.eva e/s Trpo<rKvvri<ni>
T(J)V TTLffT&V, 5r)\OV(Tt. TTjV Xu^TJf TOV & u) /J.CLT OS .
TREATISE ON IMAGES 139
Severtanus of the Gabali, on the Cross.
Fourth Homily. — 4 Moses struck the rock
twice.' Why twice? If he was obeying God's
commands, what need was there of striking
a second time? If without, not two, or ten, or
a hundred strikings would have unlocked
nature : if it was simply God's work without
the mystery of the Cross, one striking, or nod,
or word would have sufficed. But it is meant
to be an image of the Cross. Moses, the
Scripture says, struck once and then again, in
the sign of the Cross, not for actual necessity,
so that inanimate nature might reverence the
symbol. If in the king's absence his image
supplies his place, rulers worship, and festivals
are held, and princes go out to meet it, and
people prostrate themselves, not looking at
the material, but at the figure of the king
shown forth in representation not seen in nature,
how much more shall the image of the Eternal
King break open the heavens and the whole
universe, not the rock alone.
140 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
J'erome, Priest of Jerusalem, on the Holy
Trinity.
As the Scripture nowhere enjoins you to
worship the Cross, what makes you adore it ?
Tell us, Jews and heathens, and all inquiring
people.
Answer. — On this account, O slow and
foolish of heart, God allowed the people, who
revered Him, to worship what was on earth,
the handiwork of man, so that they should
not be able to reproach Christians concerning
the Cross and the worship of images. Now
just as the Jew adored the ark of the covenant,
and the two carved cherubim of gold, and the
two tablets of Moses, although there is no
where an order from God to worship or revere
them, so is it with Christians. We do not
revere the Cross as God ; we show through it
what we truly feel about the Crucified One.
Simeon of Mount Thaumaslus on Images.
Possibly a contentious unbeliever will main
tain that we worshipping images in our churches
are convicted of praying to lifeless idols. Far
TREATISE ON IMAGES 141
be it from us to do this. Faith * makes Chris
tians, and God, who cannot deceive, works
miracles. We do not rest contented with
mere colouring. With the material picture
before our eyes we see the invisible God
through the visible representation, and glorify
Him as if present, not as a God without
reality, but as God who is the essence of
being. Nor are the saints whom we glorify
fictitious. They are in being, and are living
with God ; and their spirits being holy, they
help, by the power of God, those who deserve
and need their assistance.
Athanasius, Archbishop of Antioch, to Simeon,
Bishop of the Bostri, on the Sabbath.
Just as in the king's absence his image is
worshipped, so in his presence it is extrava
gant to leave the original to pay homage to
the image. It is disregarded, because the
original on whose account it is honoured is
present, but that is no reason for dishonour
ing it. It is much the same, I think, with
the shadow or letter of the law. The apostle
* ret yap r&v xPiffTiav^v Turrit f&rl, Kal 6 di/^fi/Sr/s rj/muv debs
raj
142 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
calls it a figure. In so far as grace anticipated
the reign of truth, the saints were types, con
templating the truth as in a glass. When the
promises were fulfilled, it was no longer de
sirable to live according to types, nor to follow
them. In the presence of the realisation the
type vanishes into insignificance. Still they
did not dishonour nor deride types ; they
honoured them, and judged those who treated
them with contumely impious, and deserving of
death and severe chastisement.
The same. — $rd Homily.
A man worships the king's image for the
honour due to the king, the image itself being
mere wax and paint.
St Athanasius of Mount Sinai on the New
Sabbath, and on St Thomas the Apostle.
Those who saw Christ in the flesh looked
upon Him as a prophet. We, who have not
seen Him, have confessed Him from our child
hood to be the great and Almighty God Him
self, the Creator of eternity, and splendour
of the Father. We listen with faith to His
Gospel, as if we saw Christ Himself speaking.
TREATISE ON IMAGES 143
And receiving the pure treasure of His body,
we believe that Christ Himself is acting in us.
And if we see only the image of His divine
form, as if looking down upon us from heaven,
we prostrate and adore. Great is now the
faith of Christ.
From the Life of the Abbot Daniel, on Eulogius
the Quarryman.
Then he went away dejected, and threw
himself before an image of Our Lady, and
crying out, he said : ' Lord, enable me to pay
what I promised this man.'
From the Life of St Mary of Egypt.
As I was weeping, I lifted up my eyes and
saw the image of Our Lady, and I said to
her:-
' O Virgin, Mother of God (OCOTOKC <5eWofj/a),
who didst give birth to God the Word, I know
that it is neither fitting nor seemly that one so
defiled and so covered with guilt as I should
look up to thy image, O ever Virgin. It is
fitting that I should be hated and shunned by
thy purity. Yet as He who was born of thee
became man on purpose to call sinners to re-
144 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
pentance, help me, for I have no other succour.
Let me also find an entrance. Do not refuse
me a sight of the wood on which God the
Word, thy Son, suffered according to the flesh,
who shed His own precious blood for me.
Grant, O Queen, that I may be admitted to
worship the sacred Cross, and I will promise
thee as surety to the God whom thou didst
bring forth that I will keep myself ever un-
defiled. When I see the Cross of thy Son, I
will at once renounce the world and the things
of the world, and forthwith follow wherever
thou shalt lead.'
Saying this, taking faith's token as a con
viction, encouraged by Our Lady's clemency,
I left that place where I had made my petition,
and returned again to join those who were
entering the edifice. No one thrust me aside,
and no one prevented me from going into the
church. Then I was seized with horror and
fear and trembling in all my limbs. Throwing
myself on the ground, and worshipping that
holy floor, I came out, and went to her who
had promised to be my security. When I
came to the place in which the agreement had
been signed, I knelt down before the ever
TREATISE ON IMAGES 145
blessed Virgin, Mother of God, and addressed
her in these words :—
' O loving Queen (c/>t\aya9e Seanroiva), thou
hast shown me thy goodness ; thou didst not
despise the petition of my unworthiness. I
have seen glory which sinners do not see.
Praise be to God who receives the repentance
of sinners through thee.'
St Methodius, Bishop of the P atari (Trarapwv),
on the Resurrection.
The images of earthly kings, even if they
are not made of finest gold and silver, com
mand at once honour from all. As men are
not honouring matter, they do not choose the
most precious from the less precious; they
honour the image, whether made of putty or
of copper. A derider of either, whether he
shows contempt to the image of plaster or of
gold, will be held to show contempt to his lord
and king. We make golden images of His
angels, principalities, or powers, for His honour
and glory.
SERMON I
ON THE ASSUMPTION
THE memory of the just takes place with
rejoicing, said Solomon, the wisest of men ; for
precious in God's sight is the death of His
saints, according to the royal * David. If, then,
the memory of all the just is a subject of
rejoicing, who will not offer praise to justice
in its source, and holiness in its treasure-house ?
It is not mere praise; it is praising with the
intention of gaining eternal glory. God's
dwelling-place does not need our praise, that
city of God, concerning which great things
were spoken, as holy, f David addresses it in
these words : ' Glorious things are said of thee,
thou city of God.' What sort of city shall we
choose for the invisible and uncircumscribed
God, who holds all things in His hand, if not
* OfoirdTUp. f Qeios.
148 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
that city which alone is above nature, giving
shelter without circumscription * to the super-
substantial Word of God ? Glorious things
have been spoken of that city by God himself.
For what is more exalted than being made
the recipient of God's counsel, which is from
all eternity ?
Neither human tongue nor angelic mind is
able worthily to praise her through whom it is
given to us to look clearly upon the Lord's
glory. What then ? Shall we be silent through
fear of our insufficiency ? Certainly not. Shall
we be trespassers beyond our own boundaries,
and freely handle ineffable mysteries, putting off
all restraint ? By no means. Mingling, rather,
fear with desire, and weaving them into one
crown, with reverent hand and longing soul,
let us show forth the poor first-fruits of our
intelligence, in gratitude to our Queen and
Mother, the benefactress of all creation, as a
repayment of our debt. A story is told of
some rustics who were ploughing up the soil
when a king chanced to pass, in the splendour
of his royal robes and crown, and surrounded
by countless gift bearers, standing in a circle.
ON CROWNING OF OUR LADY 149
As there was no gift to offer at that moment,
one of them was collecting water in his hands,
as there happened to be a copious stream near
by. Of this he prepared a gift for the king,
who addressed him in these words : ' What is
this, my boy ? ' And he answered boldly : ' I
made the best of what I had, thinking it was
better to show my willingness, than to offer
nothing. You do not need our gifts, nor do
you wish for anything from us save our good
will. The need is on our side, and the reward
is in the doing. I know that glory often comes
to the grateful/
The king in wonder praised the boy's clever
ness, graciously acknowledged his willingness,
and made him many rich gifts in return. Now,
if that proud monarch so generously rewarded
good intentions, will not Our Lady (^ 6Vro>9 ayaOt]
Seo-Troiva), the Mother of God, accept our good
will, not judging us by what we accomplish ?
Our Lady is the Mother of God, who alone is
good and infinite in His condescension, who
preferred the two mites to many splendid gifts.
She will indeed receive us, who are paying off
our debt, and make us a return out of all propor
tion to what we offer. Since prayer is absolutely
I5O ST JOHN DAMASCENE
necessary for our needs, let us direct our
attention to it.
What shall we say, O Queen ? What words
shall we use ? What praise shall we pour upon
thy sacred and glorified head, thou giver of
good gifts and of riches, the pride of the human
race, the glory of all creation, through whom it
is truly blessed. He whom nature did not
contain in the beginning, was born of thee.
The Invisible One is contemplated face to
face. O Word of God, do Thou open my
slow lips, and give their utterances Thy
richest blessing ; inflame us with the grace of
Thy Spirit, through whom fishermen became
orators, and ignorant men spoke supernatural
wisdom, so that our feeble voices may contribute
to thy loved Mother's praises, even though
greatness should be extolled by misery. She,
the chosen one of an ancient race, by a pre
determined counsel and the good pleasure of
God the Father, who had begotten Thee in
eternity immaterially, brought Thee forth in
the latter times, Thou who art propitiation
and salvation, justice and redemption, life of
life, light of light, and true God of true God.
The birth of her, whose Child was mar-
ON CROWNING OF OUR LADY 151
vellous, was above nature and understanding,
and it was salvation to the world ; her death
was glorious, and truly a sacred feast. The
Father predestined her, the prophets foretold
her through the Holy Ghost. His sanctifying
power overshadowed her, cleansed^ and made
her holy, and, as it were, predestined her.
Then Thou, Word of the Father, not dwelling
in place, f didst invite the lowliness of our
nature to be united to the immeasurable great
ness of Thy inscrutable Godhead. Thou, who
didst take flesh of the Blessed Virgin, vivified
by a reasoning soul, having first abided in her
undefiled and immaculate womb, creating
Thyself, and causing her to exist in Thee, didst
become perfect man,, not ceasing to be perfect
God, equal to Thy Father, but taking upon
Thyself our weakness through ineffable good
ness. Through it Thou art one Christ, one
Lord, one Son of God, and man at the same
time, perfect God and perfect man, wholly God
and wholly man, one substance (uTroo-Tacn?) from
two perfect natures, the Godhead and the
manhood. And in two perfect natures, the
divine and the human, God is not pure God,
* tKaQrjpf re Kai Tjyiave. f aTrepiypaTrrus /carw/C7?(ras.
152 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
nor the man only man, but the Son of God and
the Incarnate God are one and the same God
and man without confusion or division, uniting
in Himself substantially the attributes of both
natures. Thus, He is at once uncreated and
created, mortal and immortal, visible and
invisible, in place and not in place. He has a
divine will and a human will, a divine action
and a human also, two powers of choosing
(avregova-ia) divine and human. He shows
forth divine wonders and human affections,—
natural, I mean, and pure. Thou hast taken
upon Thyself, Lord, of Thy great mercy, the
state of Adam as he was before the fall, body,
soul, and mind, and all that they involve physi
cally, so as to give me a perfect salvation. It
is true indeed that what was not assumed was
not healed.^ Having thus become the medi
ator between God and man, Thou didst destroy
enmity, and lead back to Thy Father those
who had deserted Him, wanderers to their
home, and those in darkness to the light.
Thou didst bring pardon to the contrite, and
didst change mortality into immortality. Thou
didst deliver the world from the aberration of
* #PTWS yap rb ai
ON CROWNING OF OUR LADY 153
many gods, and didst make men the children of
God, partakers of Thy divine glory. Thou didst
raise the human race, which was condemned to
hell, above all power and majesty, and in Thy
person it is seated on the King's eternal throne.
Who was the instrument of these infinite
benefits exceeding all mind and comprehension,
if not the Mother ever Virgin who bore Thee ?
Realise, Beloved in the Lord, the grace of
to-day, and its wondrous solemnity. Its mys
teries are not terrible, nor do they inspire
awe. Blessed are they who have eyes to see.
Blessed are they who see with spiritual eyes.
This night shines as the day. What countless
angels acclaim the death of the life-giving-
Mother ! How the eloquence of apostles
blesses the departure of this body which was
the receptacle of God. How the Word of God,
who deigned in His mercy to become her Son,
ministering with His divine hands to this
immaculate and divine being,*1 as His mother,
receives her holy soul. O wondrous Law-giver,
fulfilling the law which He had Himself laid
down, not being bound by it, for it was He
who enjoined children to show reverence to
* , . . T-Q Travayiq. rai/rfl Kal
154 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
their parents. ' Honour thy father and thy
mother,' He says. The truth of this is
apparent to every one, calling to mind even
dimly the words of holy Scripture. If according
to it the souls of the just are in the hands of
God, how much more is her soul in the hands
of her Son and her God. This is indisputable.
Let us consider who she is and whence she
came, how she, the greatest and dearest of all
God's gifts, was given to this world. Let us
examine what her life was, and the mysteries in
which she took part. Heathens in the use of
funeral orations most carefully brought forward
anything which could be turned to praise of the
deceased, and at the same time encourage the
living to virtue, drawing generally upon fable
and fiction, not having fact to go upon. How
then, shall we not deserve scorn if we bury in
silence that which is most true and sacred, and
in very deed the source of praise and salvation
to all ? Shall we not receive the same punish
ment as the man who hid his master's talent ?
Let us adapt our subject to the needs of those
who listen, as food is suited to the body.
Joachim and Anne were the parents of
Mary. Joachim kept as strict a watch over
ON CROWNING OF OUR LADY 155
his thoughts as a shepherd over his flock,
having them entirely under his control. For
the Lord God led him as a sheep, and he
wanted for none of the best things. When
I say best, let no one think I mean what is com
monly acceptable to the multitude, that upon
which greedy minds are fixed, the pleasures
of life that can neither endure nor make their
possessors better, nor confer real strength.
They follow the downward course of human
life and cease all in a moment, even if they
abounded before. Far be it from us to cherish
these things, nor is this the portion of those
who fear God. But the good things which
are a matter of desire to those who possess
true knowledge, delighting God, and fruitful
to their possessors, namely, virtues, bearing-
fruit in due season, that is, in eternity, will
reward with eternal life those who have
laboured worthily and have persevered in their
acquisition as far as possible. The labour
goes before, eternal happiness follows.
Joachim ever shepherded his thoughts. In
the place of pastures, dwelling by contempla
tion on the words of sacred Scripture, made
glad on the restful waters of divine grace,
156 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
withdrawn from foolishness, he walked in the
path of justice. And Anne, whose name
means grace, was no less a companion in her
life than a wife, blessed with all good gifts,
though afflicted for a mystical reason with
sterility. Grace in very truth remained sterile,
not being able to produce fruit in the souls of
men. Therefore, men declined from good and
degenerated ; there was not one of under
standing nor one who sought after God.
Then His divine goodness, taking pity on the
work of His hands, and wishing to save it, put
an end to that mystical barrenness, that of
holy (6e6(j>povo<!) Anne, I mean, and she gave
birth to a child, whose equal had never been
created and never can be. The end of
barrenness proved clearly that the world's
sterility would cease and that the withered
trunk would be crowned with vigorous and
mystical life.
Hence the Mother of our Lord is announced.
An angel foretells her birth. It was fitting
that in this, too, she, who was to be the
human Mother of the one true and living
God, should be marked out above every one
else. Then she was offered in God's holy
ON CROWNING OF OUR LADY 157
temple, and remained there, showing to all
a great example of zeal and holiness, with
drawn from frivolous society. When, however,
she reached full age and the law required
that she should leave the temple, she was
entrusted by the priests to Joseph, her bride
groom, as the guardian of her virginity, a
steadfast observer of the law from his youth.
Mary, the holy and undefiled (Trm/d/xayxo?).
went to Joseph, contenting herself with her
household matters, and knowing nothing be
yond her four walls.
In the fulness of time, as the divine apostle
says, the angel Gabriel was sent to this true
child of God, and saluted her in the words,
1 Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.'
Beautiful is the angel's salutation to her who
is greater than an angel. He is the bearer of
joy to the whole world. She was troubled at his
words, not being used to speak with men, for
she had resolved to keep her virginity un
sullied. She pondered in herself what this
greeting might be. Then the angel said to
her : ' Fear not, Mary. Thou hast found grace
before God.' In very deed, she who was
worthy of grace had found it. She found
158 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
grace who had done the deeds of grace, and
had reaped its fulness. She found grace who
brought forth the source of grace, and was a
rich harvest of grace. She found an abyss of
grace who kept undefiled her double virginity,
her virginal soul no less spotless than her body ;
hence her perfect virginity. ' Thou shalt bring
forth a Son/ he said, 'and shalt call His name
Jesus ' (Jesus is interpreted Saviour). ' He
shall save His people from their sins.' What
did she, who is true wisdom, reply ? She does
not imitate our first mother Eve, but rather
improves upon her incautiousness, and calling in
nature to support her, thus answers the angel :
'How is this to be, since I know not man?
What you say is impossible, for it goes beyond
the natural laws laid down by the Creator. I
will not be called a second Eve and disobey
the will of my God. If you are not speaking
godless things, explain the mystery by saying
how it is to be accomplished.' Then the
messenger of truth answered her : ' The Holy
Spirit shall come to thee, and the power of
the Most High shall overshadow thee. There
fore He who is born to thee shall be called
the Son of God.' That which is foretold is
ON CROWNING OF OUR LADY 159
not subservient to the laws of nature. For
God, the Creator of nature, can alter its laws.
And she, listening in holy reverence to that
sacred name, which she had ever desired, signi
fied her obedience in words full of humility
and joy : ' Behold the handmaid of the Lord.
Be it done unto me according to thy word.'
' O the depth of the riches, of the wisdom,
and of the knowledge of God,' I will exclaim
in the apostle's words. * How incomprehen
sible are His judgments, and how unsearchable
His ways.' O inexhaustible goodness of God !
O boundless goodness ! He who called what
was not into being, and filled heaven and earth,
whose throne is heaven, and whose footstool
is the earth, a spacious dwelling-place, made
the womb of His own servant, and in it the
mystery of mysteries is accomplished (TO TTOLVTUV
Kaivwv Kaivorepov diroTeXel jmva-Ttjpiov). Being God
He becomes man, and is marvellously brought
forth without detriment to the virginity of His
Mother. And He is lifted up as a baby in
earthly arms, who is the brightness of eternal
glory, the form of the Father's substance, by
the word of whose mouth all created things
exist. O truly divine wonder ! O mystery
l6o ST JOHN DAMASCENE
transcending all nature and understanding ! O
marvellous virginity ! What, O holy Mother
and Virgin, is this great mystery accomplished
in thee ? Blessed art thou amongst women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. Thou
art blessed from generation to generation, thou
who alone art worthy of being blessed. Behold
all generations shall call thee blessed as thou
hast said. The daughters of Jerusalem, I
mean, of the Church, saw thee. Queens have
blessed thee, that is, the spirits of the just,
and they shall praise thee for ever. Thou art
the royal throne which angels surround, seeing
upon it their very King and Lord. Thou art
a spiritual Eden, holier and diviner than Eden
of old. That Eden was the abode of the
mortal Adam, whilst the Lord came from
heaven to dwell in thee. The ark foreshadowed
thee who hast kept the seed of the new world.
Thou didst bring forth Christ, the salvation of
the world, who destroyed sin and its angry
waves. The burning bush was a figure of
thee, and the tablets of the law, and the ark
of the testament. The golden urn and candel
abra, the table and the flowering rod of Aaron
were significant types of thee. From thee arose
ON CROWNING OF OUR LADY l6l
the splendour of the Godhead, the eternal
Word of the Father, the most sweet and
heavenly Manna, the sacred Name above every
name, the Light which was from the begin
ning. The heavenly Bread of Life, the Fruit
without seed, took flesh of thee. Did not that
flame foreshadow thee with its burning fire an
image of the divine fire within thee? And
Abraham's tent most clearly pointed to thee.
By the Word of God dwelling in thee human
nature produced the bread made of ashes, its
first fruits, from thy most pure womb, the first
fruits kneaded into bread and cooked by divine
fire, becoming His divine person, and His true
substance of a living body quickened by a
reasoning and intelligent soul.^ I had nearly
forgotten Jacob's ladder. Is it not evident to
every one that it prefigured thee, and is not
the type easily recognised? Just as Jacob saw
the ladder bringing together heaven and earth,
and on it angels coming down and going up,
and the truly strong and invulnerable God
T(f yap deig \6yq> €v rrj yaffrpi ffov (ncrjvJxravTi avdpuireia 0i5(ris rbv
aprov, rrjv eavTTJs airap-^v e/c r&v G&V ayvwv cuyudrwp
) oTrTijj/ji.evr)v TTUJS Kai dpTOTTOiov/j.evr)v inro rov deiov
etc.
L
1 62 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
wrestling mystically with himself, so art thou
placed between us, and art become the ladder
of God's intercourse with us, of Him who took
upon Himself our weakness, uniting us to
Himself, and enabling man to see God.
Thou hast brought together what was parted.
Hence angels descended to Him, ministering
to Him as their God and Lord, and men, adopt
ing the life of angels, are carried up to heaven.
How shall I understand the prediction of
prophets ? Shall I not refer them to thee, as
we can prove them to be true ? What is the
fleece of David which receives the Son of the
Almighty God, co-eternal and co-equal with
His Father, as rain falls upon the soil? Does
it not signify thee in thy bright shining ? Who
is the virgin foretold by Isaias who should
conceive and bear a Son, God ever present
with us, that is, who being born a man should
remain God ? What is Daniel's mountain from
which arose Christ, the Corner-Stone, not made
by the hand of man ? Is it not thee, con
ceiving without man and still remaining a
virgin ? Let the inspired Ezechiel come forth
and show us the closed gate, sealed by the
Lord, and not yielding, according to his
ON CROWNING OF OUR LADY 163
prophecy — let him point to its fulfilment in
thee. The Lord of all came to thee, and
taking flesh did not open the door of thy
virginity. The seal remains intact. The
prophets, then, foretell thee. Angels and
apostles minister to thee, O Mother of God,
ever Virgin, and John the virgin apostle.
Angels and the spirits of the just, patriarchs
and prophets surround thee to-day in thy de
parture to thy Son. Apostles watched over
the countless host of the just who were
gathered together from every corner of the
earth by the divine commands, as a cloud
around the divine and living Jerusalem, sing
ing hymns of praise to thee, the author of
our Lord's life-giving body.
O how does the source of life pass through
death to life ? O how can she obey the law
of nature, who, in conceiving, surpasses the
boundaries of nature? How is her spotless
body made subject to death ? In order to be
clothed with immortality she must first put off
mortality, since the Lord of nature did not
reject the penalty of death. She dies accord
ing to the flesh, destroys death by death, and
through corruption gains incorruption (<j>0opa
164 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
rrjv a<j)0ap(riav xaP&rai)> and niakes her death the
source of resurrection. O how does Almighty
God receive with His own hands the holy dis
embodied soul of our Lord's Mother ! He
honours her truly, whom being His servant by
nature, He made His Mother, in His inscrutable
abyss of mercy, when He became incarnate in
very truth. We may well believe that the
angelic choirs waited to receive thy departing
soul. O what a blessed departure this going
to God of thine. If God vouchsafes it to all
His servants — and we know that He does —
what an immense difference there is between
His servants and His Mother. What, then,
shall we call this mystery of thine ? Death ?
Thy blessed soul is naturally parted from thy
blissful and undefiled body, and the body is
delivered to the grave, yet it does not endure in
death, nor is it the prey of corruption. The
body of her, whose virginity remained un
spotted in child-birth, was preserved in its
incorruption, and was taken to a better, diviner
place, where death is not, but eternal life. Just
as the glorious sun may be hidden momentarily
by the opaque moon, it shows still though
covered, and its rays illumine the darkness
ON CROWNING OF OUR LADY 165
since light belongs to its essence. It has in
itself a perpetual source of light, or rather
it is the source of light as God created it.
So art thou the perennial source of true light,
the treasury of life itself, the richness of grace,
the cause and medium of all our goods. And
if for a time thou art hidden by the death of the
body, without speaking, thou art our light,
life-giving ambrosia, true happiness, a sea of
grace, a fountain of healing and of perpetual
blessing. Thou art as a fruitful tree in the
forest, and thy fruit is sweet in the mouth of
the faithful. Therefore I will not call thy
sacred transformation death, but rest or going
home, and it is more truly a going home.
Putting off corporeal things, thou dwellest in
a happier state.
Angels with archangels bear thee up. Im
pure spirits trembled at thy departure. The
air raises a hymn of praise at thy passage, and
the atmosphere is purified. Heaven receives
thy soul with joy. The heavenly powers greet
thee with sacred canticles and with joyous
praise, saying : * Who is this most pure
creature ascending, shining as the dawn,
beautiful as the moon, conspicuous as the
1 66 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
sun ? How sweet and lovely thou art, the
lily of the field, the rose among thorns ;
therefore the young maidens loved thee.
We are drawn after the odour of thy ointments.
The King introduced thee into His chamber.
There Powers protect thee, Principalities praise
thee, Thrones proclaim thee, Cherubim are
hushed in joy, and Seraphim magnify the
true Mother by nature and by grace of their
very Lord. Thou wert not taken into heaven
as Elias was, nor didst thou penetrate to the
third heaven with Paul, but thou didst reach
the royal throne itself of thy Son, seeing it
with thy own eyes, standing by it in joy and
unspeakable familiarity. O gladness of angels
and of all heavenly powers, sweetness of
patriarchs and of the just, perpetual exultation
of prophets, rejoicing the world and sanctifying
all things, refreshment of the weary, comfort of
the sorrowful, remission of sins, health of the
sick, harbour of the storm-tossed, lasting
strength of mourners, and perpetual succour
of all who invoke thee.'
O wonder surpassing nature and creating
wonder ! Death, which of old was feared and
hated, is a matter of praise and blessing. Of old
ON CROWNING OF OUR LADY 167
it was the harbinger of grief, dejection, tears,
and sadness, and now it is shown forth as the
cause of joy and rejoicing. In the case of all
God's servants, whose death is extolled, His
good pleasure is surmised from their holy end,
and therefore their death is blessed. It shows
them to be perfect, blessed and immoveable in
goodness, as the proverb says : ' Praise no man
before his death.' This, however, we do not
apply to thee. Thy blessedness was not death,
nor was dying thy perfection, nor, again, did
thy departure hence help thee to security.
Thou art the beginning, middle, and end of
all goods transcending mind, for thy Son in His
conception and divine dwelling in thee is made
our sure and true security. Thus thy words
were true : from the moment of His conception,
not from thy death, thou didst say all genera
tions should call thee blessed. It was thou
who didst break the force of death, paying its
penalty, and making it gracious. Hence, when
thy holy and sinless body was taken to the
tomb, the choirs of angels bore it, and were
all around, leaving nothing undone for the
honour of our Lord's Mother, whilst apostles
and all the assembly of the Church burst into
1 68 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
prophetic song, saying : ' We shall be filled
with the good things of Thy house, holy is
Thy temple, wonderful in justice.' And again :
1 The Most High has sanctified His tabernacle.
The mountain of God is a fertile mountain, the
mountain in which it pleased God to dwell.'
The apostolic band lifting the true ark of the
Lord God on their shoulders, as the priests of
old the typical ark, and placing thy body in the
tomb, made it, as if another Jordan, the way to
the true land of the gospel, the heavenly
Jerusalem, the mother of all the faithful, God
being its Lord and architect. Thy soul did
not descend to Limbo, neither did thy flesh see
corruption. Thy pure and spotless body was
not left in the earth, but the abode of the
Queen, of God's true Mother, was fixed in the
heavenly kingdom alone.
O how did heaven receive her who is greater
than heaven? How did she, who had received
God, descend into the grave ? This truly
happened, and she was held by the tomb. It
was not after bodily wise that she surpassed
heaven. For how can a body measuring three
cubits, and continually losing flesh, be compared
with the dimensions of heaven ? It was rather
ON CROWNING OF OUR LADY 169
by grace that she surpassed all height and
depth, for that which is divine is incomparable.
O sacred and wonderful, holy and worshipful
body, ministered to now by angels, standing by
in lowly reverence. Demons tremble : men
approach with faith, honouring and worshipping
her, greeting her with eyes and lips, and draw
ing down upon themselves abundant blessings.
Just as a rich scent sprinkled upon clothes or
places, leaves its fragrance even after it has
been withdrawn, so now that holy, undefiled,
and divine body, filled with heavenly fra
grance, the rich source of grace, is laid in the
tomb that it may be translated to a higher
and better place. Nor did she leave the grave
empty ; her body imparted to it a divine fra
grance, a source of healing, and of all good for
those who approach it with faith.
We, too, approach thee to-day, O Queen ;
and again, I say, O Queen, O Virgin Mother
of God, staying our souls with our trust in
thee, as with a strong anchor. Lifting up
mind, soul and body, and all ourselves to thee,
rejoicing in psalms and hymns and spiritual
canticles, we reach through thee One who is
beyond our reach on account of His Majesty.
If, as the divine Word made flesh taught us>
I7O ST JOHN DAMASCENE
honour shown to servants is honour shown to
our common Lord, how can honour shown to
thee, His Mother, be slighted? How is it not
most desirable ? Art thou not honoured as the
very breath of life ? Thus shall we best show
our service to our Lord Himself. What do I
say to our Lord? It is sufficient that those
who think of Thee should recall the memory
of Thy most precious gift as the cause of our
lasting joy. How it fills us with gladness !
How the mind that dwells on this holy treasury
of Thy grace enriches itself.
This is our thank-offering to thee, the first
fruits of our discourses, the best homage of
my poor mind, whilst I am moved by desire
of thee, and full of my own misery. But do
thou graciously receive my desire, knowing
that it exceeds my power. Watch over us,
O Queen, the dwelling - place of our Lord.
Lead and govern all our ways as thou wilt.
Save us from our sins. Lead us into the calm
harbour of the divine will. Make us worthy
of future happiness through the sweet and face-
to-face vision of the Word made flesh through
thee. With Him, glory, praise, power, and
majesty be to the Father and to the holy and
life-giving Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.
SERMON II
ON THE ASSUMPTION
THERE is no one in existence who is able to
praise worthily the holy death of God's Mother,
even if he should have a thousand tongues
and a thousand mouths. Not if all the most
eloquent tongues could be united would their
praises be sufficient. She is greater than all
praise. Since, however, God is pleased with
the efforts of a loving zeal, and the Mother
of God with what concerns the service of her
Son, suffer me now to revert again to her
praises. This is in obedience to your orders,
most excellent pastors, so dear to God, and we
call upon the Word made flesh of her to come
to our assistance. He gives speech to every
mouth which is opened for Him. He is her
sole pleasure and adornment. We know that
in celebrating her praises we pay off our debt,
172 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
and that in so doing we are again debtors, so
that the debt is ever beginning afresh. It is
fitting that we should exalt her who is above
all created things, governing them as Mother
of the God who is their Creator, Lord, and
Master. Bear with me you who hang upon
the divine words, and receive my good will.
Strengthen my desire, and be patient with the
weakness of my words. It is as if a man were
to bring a violet of royal purple out of season,
or a fragrant rose with buds of different hues,
or some rich fruit of autumn to a mighty
potentate who is divinely appointed to rule
over men. Every day he sits at a table laden
with every conceivable dish in the perfumed
courts of his palace. He does not look at
the smallness of the offering, or at its novelty
so much as he admires the good intention, and
with reason. This he would reward with an
abundance of gifts and favours. So we, in our
winter of poverty,* bring garlands to our Queen,
* OVTW Koi •tyuets ev xei/uDi't r&v ewuv TO, &vOr) rrj /3a<ri.\i5i.
/ecu 7e77/pa/c6ra \o70i' Trpos TOVS ay&vas r&v eyuwfjiiuv oTrXl^ovres, KO.L
TOV Trodov T(J} v($ \idov oia fftdripQ 7rposrpi\f/ai>Tes, r) ws fiopdprjv &wpov
€K6\L\f/avTes, rty fjivOoroKov didvoicu>, &fj,vdpov riva (nrivOijpa /ecu rpovya
\6yov TOIS 0t\oX67ots vfuv KCU 0iXa/cpod/io<n J/^UOJT«, fj.a\\oi> /cat fj,a\Xov
ON CROWNING OF OUR LADY 173
and prepare a flower of oratory for the feast of
praise. We break our mind's stony desire
with iron, pressing, as it were, the unripe
grapes. And may you receive with more and
more favour the words which fall upon your
eager and listening ears.
What shall we offer the Mother of the Word
if not our words ? Like rejoices in like and in
what it loves. Thus, then, making a start and
loosening the reins of my discourse, I may
send it forth as a charger ready equipped for
the race. But do Thou, O Word of God, be
my helper and auxiliary, and speak wisdom to
my unwisdom. By Thy word make my path
clear, and direct my course according to Thy
good pleasure, which is the end of all wisdom
and discernment.
To-day the holy Virgin of Virgins is presented
in the heavenly temple. Virginity in her was
so strong as to be a consuming fire. It is
forfeited in every case by child-birth. But she
is ever a virgin, before the event, in the birth
itself, and afterwards. To-day the sacred and
living ark of the living God, who conceived her
Creator Himself, takes up her abode in the
temple of God, not made by hands. David, her
174 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
forefather, ^ rejoices. Angels and Archangels
are in jubilation, Powers exult, Principalities
and Dominations, Virtues and Thrones are in
gladness : Cherubim and Seraphim magnify
God. Not the least of their praise is it to refer
praise to the Mother of glory. To-day the holy
dove, the pure and guileless soul, sanctified by
the Holy Spirit, putting off the ark of her body,
the life-giving receptacle of Our Lord, found
rest to the soles of her feet, taking her flight to
the spiritual world, and dwelling securely in the
sinless country above. To-day the Eden of
the new Adam receives the true paradise, in
which sin is remitted and the tree of life grows,
and our nakedness is covered. For we are no
longer naked and uncovered, and unable to
bear the splendour of the divine likeness.
Strengthened with the abundant grace of the
Spirit, we shall no longer betray our nakedness
in the words : ' I have put off my garment, how
shall I put it on ? ' The serpent, by whose
deceitful promise we were likened to brute
beasts, did not enter into this paradise. He,
the only begotten Son of God, God himself, of
the same substance as the Father, took His
ON CROWNING OF OUR LADY 175
human nature of the pure Virgin. Being con
stituted a man, He made mortality immortal,
and was clothed as a man. Putting aside
corruption, He was indued with the incor
ruptibility of the Godhead.
To-day the spotless Virgin, untouched by
earthly affections, and all heavenly in her
thoughts, was not dissolved in earth, but
truly entering heaven, dwells in the heavenly
tabernacles. Who would be wrong to call her
heaven, unless indeed he truly said that she is
greater than heaven in surpassing dignity ?
The Lord and Creator of heaven, the Architect
of all things beneath the earth and above, of
creation, visible and invisible, Who is not
circumvented by place (if that which surrounds
things is rightly termed place), created Himself,
without human co-operation, an Infant in her.
He made her a rich treasure-house of His all-
pervading and alone uncircumscribed Godhead,
subsisting entirely in her without passion,
remaining entire in His universality and
Himself uncircumscribed. To-day the life-
giving treasury and abyss of charity (I know
not how to trust my lips to speak of it) is
hidden in immortal death. She meets it
176 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
without fear, who conceived death's destroyer,
if indeed we may call her holy and vivifying
departure by the name of death. For how
could she, who brought life to all, be under the
dominion of death ? But she obeys the law of
her own Son, and inherits this chastisement as
a daughter of the first Adam, since her Son, who
is the life, did not refuse it. As the Mother of
the living God, she goes through death to Him.
For if God said : * Unless the first man put out
his hand to take and taste of the tree of life, he
shall live for ever,' how shall she, who received
the Life Himself, without beginning or end, or
finite vicissitudes, not live for ever.
Of old the Lord God banished from the
garden of Eden our first parents after their dis
obedience, when they had dulled the eye of
their heart through their sin, and weakened
their mind's discernment, and had fallen into
death-like apathy. But, now, shall not paradise
receive her, who broke the bondage of all
passion, sowed the seed of obedience to God
and the Father, and was the beginning of life
to the whole human race ? Will not heaven
open its gates to her with rejoicing? Yes,
indeed. Eve listened to the serpent, adopted
ON CROWNING OF OUR LADY 177
his suggestion, was caught by the lure of false
and deceptive pleasure, and was condemned to
pain and sorrow, and to bear children in suffer
ing. With Adam she received the sentence of
death, and was placed in the recesses of Limbo.
How can death claim as its prey this truly
blessed one, who listened to God's word in
humility, and was filled with the Spirit, con
ceiving the Father's gift through the archangel,
bearing without concupiscence or the co-opera
tion of man the Person of the Divine Word, who
fills all things, bringing Him forth without the
pains of childbirth, being wholly united to God ?
How could Limbo open its gates to her ? How
could corruption touch the life-giving body ?
These are things quite foreign to the soul and
body of God's Mother. Death trembled before
her. In approaching her Son, death had learnt
experience from His sufferings, and had grown
wiser. The gloomy descent to hell was not for
her, but a joyous, easy, and sweet passage to
heaven. If, as Christ, the Life and the Truth
says : * Wherever I am, there is also my
minister,' how much more shall not His mother
be with Him? She brought Him forth with
out pain, and her death, also, was painless.
M
ST JOHN DAMASCENE
The death of sinners is terrible, for in it, sin,
the cause of death, is sacrificed. What shall
we say of her if not that she is the beginning
of perpetual life. Precious indeed is the death
of His saints to the Lord God of powers. More
than precious is the passing away of God's
Mother. Now let the heavens and the angels
rejoice : let the earth and men be full of glad
ness. Let the air resound with song and
canticle, and dark night put off its gloom, and
emulate the brightness of day through the
scintillating stars. The living city of the Lord
God is assumed from God's temple, the visible
Sion, and kings bring forth His most precious
gift, their mother, to the heavenly Jerusalem, —
that is to say, the apostles constituted princes
by Christ, over all the earth, accompany the
ever virginal Mother of God.
It seems to me not superfluous to bring
forward and insist on the past types of this
holy one, the Mother of God. These types
succinctly announced the Divine Child whom
we have received. I look upon His Mother
as the saint of saints, the holiest of all, the
fragrant urn for the manna, or rather, to speak
more truly, the fountain taking its rise in the
ON CROWNING OF OUR LADY 179
divine and far-famed city of David, in Sion
the glorious ; in it the law is fulfilled and the
spiritual law is portrayed. In Sion, Christ
the Law-giver consummated the typical pasch,
and God, the Author of the old and the new
dispensation, gave us the true pasch. In it
the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins
of the world, initiated His disciples unto His
mystical feast, and gave them Himself slain as
a victim, and the grape pressed in the true
vine. In Sion, Christ is seen by His apostles,
risen from the dead, and Thomas is told, and
through Thomas the world, that He is Lord
and God, having in Himself two natures after
His resurrection, and consequently two opera
tions, independent wills, enduring for all ages.
Sion is the crown of churches, the resting-place
of disciples. In it the echo of the Holy Spirit,
the gift of tongues, His fiery descent are
transmitted to the apostles. In it St John,
taking the Mother of God, ministered to her
wants. Sion is the mother of churches in the
whole world, who offered a resting-place to the
Mother of God after her Son's resurrection
from the dead. In it, lastly, the Blessed Virgin
was stretched on a small bed.
l8o ST JOHN DAMASCENE
When I had reached this point of my dis
course, I was obliged to give vent to my own
feelings, and burning with loving desire, to
shed reverent yet joyful tears, embracing, as it
were, the bed so happy and blest and wondrous,
which received the life-giving tabernacle and
rejoiced in the contact of holiness. I seemed
to take into my arms that holy and sacred
body itself, worthy of God, and pressing my
eyes, lips, and forehead, head, and cheeks to
hers, I felt as if she was really there, though I
was unable to see with my eyes what I desired.
How, then, was she assumed to the heavenly
courts ? In this way. What were the
honours then conferred upon her by God who
commands us to honour our parents ? The
cloud which enclosed Jerusalem as with a net,
by the divine commands, brought together
eagles from the ends of the earth, those who
are spread over the world, fishing for men in
the various and numerous tongues of the
spirit. By the net of the word they are saving
men from the abyss of doubt and bringing
them to the spiritual and heavenly table of
the sacred and mystical banquet, the perfect
marriage feast of the Divine Bridegroom,
ON CROWNING OF OUR LADY l8l
which the Father celebrates with His Son,
who is equal to Himself and of the same
nature. 'Where the spirit is,' says Christ the
Truth, * there shall the eagles be gathered
together.' If we have already spoken con
cerning the second great and splendid coming
of Him who spoke these words, it will not be
out of place here by way of condiment.
Eye-witnesses, then, and ministers of the
word were there, duly ministering to His
Mother, and drawing from her a rich in
heritance, as it were, and a full measure of
praise. For is it a matter of doubt to any one
that she is the source of blessing and the
fountain of all good ? Their followers and
successors also were there, joining in their
ministry and in their praise. A common
labour produces common fruits. A chosen
band from Jerusalem were there. It was fitting
that the foremost men and prophets of the old
law, they who had foretold God the Word's
saving birth of her in time, should be there
as a guard of honour. Nor did the angelic
choirs fail. They who obeyed the king
heartily (Kara yi/w/^i/), and consequently were
honoured by standing near Him, had the right
1 82 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
to serve as a body-guard to His Mother,
according to the flesh, the truly blessed and
blissful one, surpassing all generations and all
creation. All those were with her who are the
brightness and the shining of the spirit, with
spiritual eyes fixed upon her in reverence, and
fear, and pure desire.
We hear divine and inspired words, and
spiritual canticles appropriate to the parting
hour. On this account it was meet to praise His
boundless goodness, His immeasurable great
ness, His omnipotence, the generosity surpass
ing all measure in His dealings with us, the
overflowing riches of His mercy, the abyss of
His tenderness ; how, putting aside His great
ness, He descended to our littleness with the
co-operation of the Father and the Holy Spirit.
Again, the supersubstantial One is supersub-
stantially created in the virginal womb. Being
God He became man, and remains according
to this union perfect God and perfect man, not
giving up the substance of His Godhead nor
ceasing to be of the same flesh and blood as
we are. He, who fills all things and governs
the universe with one word, took up His abode
in a narrow place, and the material body of
ON CROWNING OF OUR LADY 183
this blessed one received the burning fire of
the Godhead, and as genuine gold it remained
intact. This has taken place because God
willed it, since His good pleasure makes things
possible which could not happen without it.
Then followed a strife of praise, not as if each
was seeking to outdo the other — for this is
vainglorious and far from pleasing to God —
but as if they would leave nothing undone for
the glory of God and the honour of God's
Mother.
Then Adam and Eve, our first parents,
opened their lips to exclaim, * Thou blessed
daughter of ours, who hast removed the
penalty of our disobedience ! Thou, inheriting
from us a mortal body, hast won us immor
tality. Thou, taking thy being from us, hast
given us back the being in grace. Thou hast
conquered pain and loosened the bondage of
death. Thou hast restored us to our former
state. We had shut the door of paradise ;
thou didst find entrance to the tree of life.
Through us sorrow came out of good ; through
thee good from sorrow. How canst thou who
art all fair taste of death ? Thou art the gate
of life and the ladder to heaven. Death is
184 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
become the passage to immortality. O thou
truly blessed one ! who that is not the Word
could have borne what thou hast borne ? ' *
All the company of the saints exclaimed,
* Thou hast fulfilled our predictions. Thou
hast purchased our present joy for us. Through
thee we have broken the chains of death.
Come to us, divine and life-giving receptacle.
Come, our desire, thou who hast gained us our
desire.'
And the saints standing by added their no
less burning words : ' Remain with us, our
comfort, our sole joy in this world. O Mother
leave us not orphans who have suffered on
thy Son's account. May we have thee as a
refuge and refreshment in our labours and
weariness. Thou canst remain if thou so
wiliest, even as thou canst depart hence. If
thou departest, O dwelling-place of God, let
us go too, if we are thine through thy Son.
Thou art our sole consolation on earth. We
live as long as thou livest, and it is bliss to
die with thee. Why do we speak of death ?
Death is life to thee, and better than life —
* 6vrws fJLO.Ka.pLa cri), Tra/iyua /cap tare. Tls yap, el fj.rjTi.ye 6 \6yos 77
i', 8 TrpdrreLV v
ON CROWNING OF OUR LADY 185
incomparably exceeding this life. How is our
life — life, if we are deprived of thee ? '
The apostles and all the assembly of the
Church may well have addressed some such
words to the blessed Virgin. When they saw
the Mother of God near her end and longing
for it, they were moved by divine grace to
sing farewell hymns, and wrapt out of the flesh,
they sighed to accompany the dying Mother
of God, and anticipated death through intensity
of will. When they had all satisfied their duty
of loving reverence and had woven her a rich
crown of hymns, they spoke a parting blessing
over her, as a God-given treasure, and the last
words. These, I should think, were significant
of this life's fleetingness, and of its leading to
the hidden mysteries of future goods.
This, it appears to me, is what they did at
once and unanimously. The King was there
to receive with divine embrace * the holy, un-
defiled, and stainless soul of His Mother on
her going home. And she, as we may well
conjecture, said, * Into Thy hands, O my Son,
I commend my spirit. Receive my soul, dear
* xeP<?l 0ei'ats fal dK-ripdroLs. Obscure when applied to our
Lord.
1 86 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
to Thee, which Thou didst keep spotless. I
give my body to Thee, not to the earth.
Guard that which Thou wert pleased to in
habit and to preserve in virginity. Take me
to Thyself, that wherever Thou art, the fruit
of my womb, there I too may be. I am im
pelled to Thee who didst descend to me. Do
Thou be the consolation of my most cherished
children, whom Thou didst vouchsafe to call
Thy brethren, when my death leaves them in
loneliness. Bless them afresh through my
hands.' Then stretching out her hands, as
we may believe, she blessed all those present,
and then she heard the words : ' Come, my
beloved Mother, to thy rest. Arise and come,
most dear amongst women, the winter is past
and gone, the harvest time is at hand.* Thou
art fair, my beloved, and there is no stain in
thee. Thy fragrance is sweeter than all oint
ments.' With these words in her ear, that
holy one gave up her spirit into the hands of
her Son.
What happens ? Nature, I conjecture, is
stirred to its depths, strange sounds and voices
are heard, and the swelling hymns of angels
* 6 Kaipbs TT?S ro/j.rjs £(f>6acre.
ON CROWNING OF OUR LADY 187
who precede, accompany, and follow her.
Some constitute the guard of honour to that
undefiled and immaculate (iravayia) soul on its
way to heaven until the queen reaches the divine
throne. Others surrounding the sacred and
divine body proclaim God's Mother in angelic
harmony. What of those who watched by
the most holy and immaculate (Travaylw) body ?
In loving reverence and with tears of joy
they gathered round the blessed and divine
tabernacle, embracing every member, and were
filled with holiness and thanksgiving. Then
illnesses were cured, and demons were put to
flight and banished to the regions of darkness.
The air and atmosphere and heavens were
sanctified by her passage through them, the
earth by the burial of her body. Nor was
water deprived of a blessing. She was washed
in pure water. It did not cleanse her, but was
rather itself sanctified. Then, hearing was
given to the deaf, the lame recovered their
feet, and the blind their sight. Sinners who
approached with faith blotted out the hand
writing against them. Then the holy body is
wrapped in a snow-white winding-sheet, and
the queen is again laid upon her bed. Then
1 88 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
follow lights and incense and hymns, and
angels singing as befits the solemnity ; apostles
and patriarchs acclaiming her in inspired
song.
When the Ark of God, departing from
Mount Sion for the heavenly country, was
borne on the shoulders of the Apostles, it was
placed on the way in the tomb. First it was
taken through the city, as a bride dazzling
with spiritual radiance, and then carried to the
sacred place of Gethsemane, angels over
shadowing it with their wings, going before,
accompanying, and following it, together with
the whole assembly of the Church. King
Solomon compelled all the elders of Israel in
Sion to bear the ark of the covenant of the
Lord from the city of David, that is Sion, to
rest in the temple of the Lord, which he had
built, and the priests took the ark and the
tabernacle of the testimony, and the priests
and levites raised it. And the king and all
the people sacrificed numberless oxen and
sheep before the ark. And the priests carried
in the ark of the testimony of God into its
place, into the Holy of Holies, beneath the
wings of the cherubim. So is it now with the
ON CROWNING OF OUR LADY 189
dwelling-place of the true ark, no longer of the
testimony, but the very substance of God the
Word. The new Solomon, the Prince of
peace, the Creator of all things in the heavens
and on the earth, assembled together to-day
the supporters of the new covenant, thcit is
the Apostles, with all the people of the saints
in Jerusalem, brought in her soul through
angels to the true Holy of Holies, under the
wings of the four living creatures, and set her
on His throne within the veil, where Christ
Himself had preceded her. Her body the
while is borne by the Apostles' hands, the
King of Kings covering her with the splen
dour of His invisible Godhead, the whole
assembly of the saints preceding her, with
sacred song and sacrifice of praise until
through the tomb it was placed in the delights
of Eden, the heavenly tabernacles.
Perchance, Jews also were there, if any, not
too reprobate were to be found. It will not be
beside the mark to mention here a thing that
is asserted by many. It is said that when
those, who were carrying the blessed body of
God's Mother, had reached the descent of the
opposite mountains, a certain Jew, the slave of
1QO ST JOHN DAMASCENE
sin, and pledged by his folly, imitated the
servant of Caiphas, who struck the divine Face
of Christ our Lord and Master, and made
himself the devil's instrument. Full of wicked
passion and malice, he rushed at that most
divine tabernacle, which angels approached
with fear, and impiously dragged the bier with
both his hands to the ground. This was
prompted by the envy of the arch enemy, but
his labours were in vain, and he reaped a
severe and fitting reminder of his deed. It is
said that he lost the use of his hands, which
had perpetrated his malicious deed, until faith
moved him to repentance. The bearers were
standing near. The wretched man placed his
hands on the wondrous and life-giving taber
nacle, and they again became sound. Circum
stances had made him wise, as often happens.
But let us return to our subject.
Then they reached the most sacred Geth-
semane, and once more there were embracings
and prayers and panegyrics, hymns and tears,
poured forth by sorrowful and loving hearts.
They mingled a flood of weeping and sweat
ing.^ And thus the immaculate (iravdyiov)
Kal 7)v ifteiv idp&ras /ecu daKpva rots xevfj-affiv a/m,i\\<*)fj.€va.
ON CROWNING OF OUR LADY IQI
body was laid in the tomb. Then it was
assumed after three days to the heavenly
mansions. The bosom of the earth was no
fitting receptacle for the Lord's dwelling-place,
the living source of cleansing water, the corn of
heavenly bread, the sacred vine of divine wine,
the evergreen and fruitful olive-branch of
God's mercy. And just as the all holy body
of God's Son, which was taken from her, rose
from the dead on the third day, it followed
that she should be snatched from the tomb,
that the mother should be united to her Son ;
and as He had come down to her, so she
should be raised up to Him, into the more
perfect dwelling-place, heaven itself. It was
meet that she, who had sheltered God the
Word in her own womb, should inhabit the
tabernacles of her Son. And as our Lord
said it behoved Him to be concerned with His
Father's business, so it behoved His mother
that she should dwell in the courts of her Son,
in the house of the Lord, and in the courts of
the house of our God. If all those who rejoice
dwell in Him, where must the cause itself of joy
abide ? It was fitting that the body of her, who
preserved her virginity unsullied in her mother-
192 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
hood, should be kept from corruption even
after death. She who nursed her Creator as
an infant at her breast, had a right to be in the
divine tabernacles. The place of the bride
whom the Father had espoused, was in the
heavenly courts. It was fitting that she who
saw her Son die on the cross, and received in
her heart the sword of pain which she had not
felt in childbirth, should gaze upon Him
seated next to the Father. The Mother of
God had a right to the possession of her Son,
and as handmaid and Mother of God to the
worship of all creation. The inheritance of the
parents ever passes to the children. Now,
as a wise man said, the sources of sacred
waters are above. The Son made all creation
serve His Mother.
Let us then also keep solemn feast to-day to
honour the joyful departure of God's Mother,
not with flutes nor corybants, nor the orgies
of Cybele, the mother of false gods, as they
say, whom foolish people talk of as a fruitful
mother of children, and truth as no mother at
all. These are demons and false imaginings.
They usurp what they are not by nature to
impose upon human folly. For how can what
ON CROWNING OF OUR LADY 193
is bodiless lead the wedded life*? How can
that be god which, not being before, is present
only after birth ? That devils were bodiless is
apparent to all, even to those who are in
tellectually blind. Homer somewhere testifies
to the condition of the gods he honours :
They eat not barley, and drink not ruddy wine,
So they are bloodless and are called immortal.
They eat not bread, he says, neither do they
drink fiery wine. On this account they are
anaemic, that is, without blood, and are called
immortals. He truly and appropriately says,
' are called.' They are called immortals
They are not that which they are called.
They died the death of wickedness. Now
we worship God, not God beginning His
being, but who always was and is above all
cause and argument or created mind or nature.
We honour and reverence the Mother of God,
not ascribing to her the eternal generation of
His Godhead. For the generation of God
the Word was not in time, and was co-eternal
with the Father. We acknowledge a second
generation in His spontaneous taking flesh,
and we see and know the cause of this. He
* ycvva yap TTWS ex ffvv5va.(r/j.ov rb dau/JMTOv, /cat riva. rpoirov /itx^^
N
194 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
who is without beginning and without body
takes flesh for us as one of ourselves. And
taking flesh of this sacred Virgin, He is born
without man, remaining Himself perfect God,
and becoming perfect man, perfect God in His
flesh, and perfect Man in His Godhead. Thus,
recognising God's Mother in this Virgin, we
celebrate her falling asleep, not proclaiming
her as God — far be from us these heathen
fables — since we are announcing her death, but
recognising her as the Mother of the Incarnate
God.
O people of Christ, let us acclaim her to-day
in sacred song, acknowledge our own good
fortune and proclaim it. Let us honour her
in nocturnal vigil ; let us delight in her purity
of soul and body, for she next to God surpasses
all in purity. It is natural for similar things
to glory in each other. Let us show our love
for her by compassion and kindness towards
the poor. For if mercy is the best worship
of God, who will refuse to show His Mother
devotion in the same way ? She opened to us
the unspeakable abyss of God's love for us.
Through her the old enmity against the
Creator is destroyed. Through her our
ON CROWNING OF OUR LADY 195
reconciliation with Him is strengthened, peace
and grace are given to us, men are the
companions of angels, and we, who were in
dishonour, are made the children of God.
From her we have plucked the fruit of life.
From her we have received the seed of
immortality. She is the channel of all our
goods. In her God was man and man was
God. What more marvellous or more blessed ?
I approach the subject in fear and trembling.
With Mary, the prophetess, O youthful souls,
let us sound our musical instruments, mortify
ing our members on earth, for this is spiritual
music. Let our souls rejoice in the Ark of
God, and the walls of Jericho will yield, I
mean the fortresses of the enemy. Let us
dance in spirit with David ; to-day the Ark
of God is at rest. With Gabriel, the great
archangel, let us exclaim, ' Hail, full of grace,
the Lord is with thee. Hail, inexhaustible
ocean of grace. Hail, sole refuge in grief.
Hail, cure of hearts. Hail, through whom
death is expelled and life is installed.'
And you I will speak to as if living, most
sacred of tombs, after the life-giving tomb of our
Lord, which is the source of the resurrection.
196 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
Where is the pure gold which apostolic hands
confided to you ? Where is the inexhaustible
treasure? Where the precious receptacle of
God ? Where is the living table ? Where the
new book in which the incomprehensible Word
of God is written without hands ? Where is
the abyss of grace and the ocean of healing ?
Where is the life-giving fountain ? Where is
the sweet and loved body of God's Mother ?
Why* do you seek in the tomb one who
has been assumed to the heavenly courts ?
Why do you make me responsible for not
keeping her ? I was powerless to go against
the divine commands. That sacred and holy
body, leaving the winding-sheet behind, filled
me full of sweet fragrance, sanctified me by its
contact, and fulfilled the divine scheme, and
was then assumed, angels and archangels and
all the heavenly powers escorting it. Now
angels surround me, and divine grace abounds
in me. I am the physician of the sick. I
am a perpetual source of health, and the terror
of demons. I am a city of refuge for fugitives.
Approach with faith and you will receive a sea
of graces. Come, you of weak faith. All you
* The supposed answer of the tomb.
ON CROWNING OF OUR LADY 197
that thirst, come to the waters in obedience
to Isaias' commands, and you who have no
money, come and buy for nothing. I call upon
all with the Gospel invitation. Let him who
longs for bodily or spiritual cure, forgiveness
of sins, deliverance from misfortune, the pos
session of heaven, approach me with faith, and
draw hence a strong and rich stream of grace.
Just as the action of one and the same water
acts differently on the earth, air, and sun,
according to the nature of each, producing
wine in the vine and oil in the olive-tree, so
does one and the same grace profit each person
according to his needs. I do not possess
grace on my own account. A tomb given up to
corruption, an object of sorrow and dejection,
I receive a precious ointment, and am impreg
nated with it, and this sweet fragrance alters
my condition whilst it lasts. Truly, divine
graces flow where they will. I have sheltered
the source of joy, and I have become rich in its
perennial fountain.*
What shall we answer the tomb ? You have
indeed rich and abiding grace, but divine power
is not restricted by place, neither is the Mother
* An imauthentic paragraph omitted.
198 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
of God's working. If it were confined to the
tomb alone, few would be the richer. Now it
is freely distributed in all parts of the world.
Let us then make our memory serve as a store
house of God's Mother. How shall this be ?
She is a virgin and a lover of virginity. She
is pure and a lover of purity. If we purify our
mind with the body, we shall possess her grace.
She shuns all impurity and impure passions.
She has a horror of intemperance, and a special
hatred for fornication. She turns from its
allurements as from the progeny of serpents
. . . She looks upon all sin as death-inflicting,
rejoicing in all good. Contraries are cured by
contraries. She delights in fasting and con
tinence and spiritual canticles, in purity,
virginity, and wisdom. With these she is ever
at peace, and takes them to her heart. She
embraces peace and a meek spirit, and love,
mercy, and humility as her children. In a
word, she grieves over every sin, and is glacl
at all goodness as if it were her own. If we
turn away from our former sins in all earnest
ness and love goodness with all our hearts,
and make it our constant companion, she will
frequently visit her servants, bringing all bless-
ON CROWNING OF OUR LADY 1 99
ings with her, Christ her Son, the King and
Lord who reigns in our hearts. To Him be
glory, praise, honour, power, and magnificence,
with the eternal Father and the Holy Spirit,
now and for ever.
SERMON III.
ON THE ASSUMPTION (KoifJL9i<ri$).
LOVERS are wont to speak of what they love,
and to let their fancy run on it by day and
night. Let no one therefore blame me, if I
add a third tribute to the Mother of God, on
her triumphant departure. I am not profiting
her, but myself and you who are here present,
putting before you a spiritual seasoning and
refreshment in keeping with this holy night.
We are suffering, as you see, from scarcity of
eatables. Therefore I am extemporising a
repast, which, if not very costly nor worthy of
the occasion, will certainly be sufficient to still
hunger. She does not need our praise. It is
we who need her glory. How indeed can
glory be glorified, or the source of light be
enlightened ? We are weaving a crown for
ourselves in the doing. f I live,' the Lord says,
'and I will glorify those who glorify Me.'
202 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
Wine is truly pleasant to drink, and bread to
eat. The one rejoices, the other strengthens
the heart of man. But what is sweeter than
the Mother of my God ? She has taken my
mind captive, and held my tongue in bondage.
I think of her by day and night. She, the
Mother of the Word, supplies my words. The
fruit of sterility makes sterile minds fruitful.
We keep to-day the feast of her blessed and
divine transit from this world. Let us then
climb up the mystical mountain, where beyond
the reach of worldly things, passing through
the obscurity of storm, we stand in the divine
light and may give praise to Almighty power.
How does He, who dwells in the splendour of
His glory, descend into the Virgin's womb
without leaving the bosom of the Father?
How is He conceived in the flesh, and does He
spontaneously suffer, and suffer unto death, in
that material body, gaining immortality
through corruptibility ? (<j>6opa Krr}<ra/ULevos TO
a^Qaprov). And, again, ascending to the Father,
He drew His Mother, according to the flesh, to
His own Father, assuming into the heavenly
country her who was heaven on earth.
To-day the living ladder, through whom the
ON CROWNING OF OUR LADY 203
Most High descended and was seen on earth,
and conversed with men, was assumed into
heaven by death. To-day the heavenly table,
she, who contained the bread of life, the fire
of the Godhead, without knowing man, was
assumed from earth to heaven, and the gates
of heaven opened wide to receive the gate of
God from the East. To-day the living city of
God is transferred from the earthly to the
heavenly Jerusalem, and she, who, conceived
her first-born and only Son, the first-born of
all creation, the only begotten of the Father,
rests in the Church of the first-born : the true
and living Ark of the Lord is taken to the peace
of her Son. The gates of heaven are opened
to receive the receptacle of God, who, bringing
forth the tree of life, destroyed Eve's dis
obedience and Adam's penalty of death. And
Christ, the cause of all life, receives the chosen
mirror, the mountain from which the stone
without hands filled the whole earth. She, who
brought about the Word's divine Incarnation,
rests in her glorious tomb as in a bridal-
chamber, whence she goes to the heavenly
bridals, to share in the kingdom of her Son
and God, leaving her tomb as a place of rest
2O4 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
for those on earth. Is her tomb indeed a
resting-place? Yes, more famous than any
other, not shining with gold, or silver, or
precious stones, nor covered with silken, golden,
or purple adornments, but with the divine
radiance of the Holy Spirit. The angelic state
is not for lovers of this world, but the wondrous
life of the blessed is for the servants of the
Spirit, and passing to God is better and
sweeter than any other life. This tomb is
fairer than Eden. And that I may not speak
of the enemy's deceit, in the one ; of his, so to
say, clever counsel, his envy and covetousness,
of Eve's weakness and pliability, the bait, sure
and tempting, which cheated her and her
husband, their disobedience, exile, and death,
not to speak of these things so as not to
turn our feast into sorrow, this grave gave up
the mortal body it contained to the heavenly
country. Eve became the mother of the human
family, and is not man made after the divine
image, convicted by her condemnation ; * earth
thou art, and unto earth thou shalt return.'
This tomb is more precious than the tabernacle
of old, receiving the real and life-giving re
ceptacle of the Lord, the heavenly table, not
ON CROWNING OF OUR LADY 2O5
the loaves of proposition, but of heaven, not
material fire, but her who contained the pure
fire of the Godhead. This tomb is holier than
the ark of Moses, blessed not with types and
shadows, but the truth itself. It showed forth
the pure and golden urn, containing the heavenly
manna, the living tablet, receiving the Incarnate
Word of God from the impress of the Holy
Spirit, the golden censer of the supersubstantial
word. It showed forth her who conceived the
divine fire embalming all creation.
Let demons take to flight, and the thrice
miserable Nestorians perish as the Egyptians of
old, and their ruler Pharao, the younger, a cruel
devastator. They were swallowed up in the
abyss of blasphemy. Let us who are saved
with dry feet, crossing the bitter waters of
impiety, raise our voices to the Mother of God
at her departure. Let Mary, personifying the
Church, lead the joyful strain. Let the maidens
of the spiritual Jerusalem go out in singing
choirs. Let kings and judges, with rulers,
youths, and virgins, young and old, proclaim
the Mother of God, and all peoples and nations
in their different ways and tongues, sing a new
canticle. Let the air resound with praise and
206 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
instrument, and the sun gladden this day of
salvation. Rejoice, O heavens, and may the
clouds rain justice. Be glad, O divine apostles,
the chosen ones of God's flock, who seem to
reach the highest visions, as lofty mountain
tops. And you God's sheep, and His holy
people, the flock of the Church, who look to
the high mountains of perfection, be sad, for
the fountain of life, God's Mother, is dead. It
was necessary that what was made of earth
should return to earth, and thus be assumed to
heaven. It was fitting that the earthly tene
ment should be cast off, as gold is purified, so
that the flesh in death might become pure and
immortal, and rise in shining immortality from
the tomb.
To-day she begins her second life through
Him who was the cause of her first being.
She gave a beginning, I mean, the life of the
body, to Him who had no beginning in time,
although the Father was the cause of His
divine existence. Rejoice holy and divine
Mount Sion, in which reposes the living divine
mountain, the new Bethel, with its grace,
human nature united with the Godhead.
From thee her Son ascended to heaven as
ON CROWNING OF OUR LADY 2O7
from the olives. Let the world-embracing
cloud be prepared and the winds gather the
apostles to Mount Sion from the ends of the
earth. Who are these who soar up as clouds
and eagles to the cause of all resurrection,
ministering to the Mother of God ? Who
is she who rises resplendent, all pure, and
bright as the sun ? Let the. spiritual lyres
sing to her, the apostolic tongues. Let grave
theologians raise their voices in praise,
Hierotheus, the vessel of election, in whom
the Holy Spirit abides, knowing and teaching
divine things by the divine indwelling. Let
him be wrapt out of the body and join
willingly in the joyful hymn. Let all nations
clap their hands and praise the Mother of
God. Let angels minister to her body.
Follow your Queen, O daughters of Jerusalem,
and, together with her virgins in the spirit,
approach your Bridegroom in order to sit at
His right hand. Make haste, Lord, to give
Thy Mother the welcome which is her due.
Stretch out Thy divine hands. Receive Thy
Mother's soul into the Father's hands unto
which Thou didst commend Thy spirit on
the Cross. Speak sweet words to her :
208 ST JOHN DAMASCENE
' Come, my beloved, whose purity is more
dazzling than the sun, thou gavest me of thy
own, receive now what is mine. Come, my
Mother, to thy Son, reign with Him who was
poor with thee.' Depart, O Queen, depart,
not as Moses did who went up to die. Die
rather that thou mayest ascend. Give up
thy soul into the hands of thy Son. Return
earth to the earth, it will be no obstacle.
Lift up your eyes, O people of God. See in
Sion the Ark of the Lord God of powers, and
the apostles standing by it, burying the life-
giving body which received our Lord. In
visible angels are all around in lowly reverence
doing homage to the Mother of their Lord.
The Lord Himself is there, who is present
everywhere, and filling all things, the universal
Being, not in place. He is the Author and
Creator of all things. Behold the Virgin, the
daughter of Adam and Mother of God ;
through Adam she gives her body to the
earth, her soul to her Son above in the
heavenly courts. Let the holy city be
sanctified, and rejoice in eternal praise. Let
angels precede the divine tabernacle on its
passage, and prepare the tomb. Let the
ON CROWNING OF OUR LADY 2OQ
radiance of the spirit adorn it. Let sweet
ointment be made ready and poured over the
pure and undefiled body. Let a clear stream
of grace flow from grace in its source. Let
the earth be sanctified by contact with that
body. Let the air rejoice at the Assumption.
Let gentle breezes waft grace. Let all nature
keep the feast of the Mother of God's
Assumption. May youthful bands applaud
and eloquent tongues acclaim her, and wise
hearts ponder on the wonder, priests hoary
with age gather strength at the sight. Let
all creation emulate heaven, even so the true
measure of rejoicing would not be reached.
Come, let us depart with her. Come, let us
descend to that tomb with all our heart's desire.
Let us draw round that most sacred bed and
sing the sweet words, ' Hail, full of grace, the
Lord is with thee. Hail, predestined Mother
of God. Hail, thou chosen one in the design
of God from all eternity, most sacred hope of
earth, resting-place of divine fire, holiest delight
of the Spirit, fountain of living water, paradise
of the tree of life, divine vine-branch, bringing
forth soul - sustaining nectar and ambrosia.
Full river of spiritual graces, fertile land of the
o
2IO ST JOHN DAMASCENE
divine pastures, rose of purity, with the sweet
fragrance of grace, lily of the royal robe, pure
Mother of the Lamb of God who takes away
the sins of the world, token of our redemp
tion, handmaid and Mother, surpassing angelic
powers.' Come, let us stand round that pure
tomb and draw grace to our hearts. Let us
raise the ever-virginal body with spiritual arms,
and go with her into the grave to die with
her. Let us renounce our passions, and live
with her in purity, listening to the divine
canticles of angels in the heavenly courts. Let
us go in adoring, and learn the wondrous
mystery by which she is assumed to heaven,
to be with her Son, higher than all the angelic
choirs. No one stands between Son and
Mother. This, O Mother of God, is my third
sermon on thy departure, in lowly reverence to
the Holy Trinity to whom thou didst minister,
the goodness of the Father, the power of the
Spirit, receiving the Uncreated Word, the
Almighty Wisdom and Power of God. Accept,
then, my good-will, which is greater than my
capacity, and give us salvation. Heal our
passions, cure our diseases, help us out of
our difficulties, make our lives peaceful, send
ON CROWNING OF OUR LADY 211
us the illumination of the Spirit. Inflame us
with the desire of thy Son. Render us pleas
ing to Him, so that we may enjoy happiness
with Him, seeing thee resplendent with thy
Son's glory, rejoicing for ever, keeping feast
in the Church with those who worthily cele
brate Him who worked our salvation through
thee, Christ the Son of God, and our God.
To Him be glory and majesty, with the un
created Father and the all-holy and life-giving
Spirit, now and for ever, through the endless
ages of eternity. Amen.
INDEX
Abraham and sons of Emmor, 9 ; image of God, 123.
Adam and Eve addressing Our Lady, 183.
Ambrose of Milan, St, on Incarnation, 136.
Amphilochius, addressed by St Basil, 34.
Angarus, King of Edessa, 33.
Angelic nature not taken by God, 102.
Anne, St, her name, 156.
Ark of God, the true, 168, 188 ; at rest, 195.
Assumption of Our Lady, 202, 207, 209, 210.
Athanasius, Archbishop of Antioch, 141.
Athanasius, St, his testimony, 120.
Augustine, St, de Civitate Dei, 57.
Babylon, three children in, 132.
Baltasar, impiety of, no.
Basil, St, on Tradition, 28 ; on St Gordion, 37 ; on Forty
Martyrs, 117.
Berenice of Paneada, 124.
Body of Christ in Holy Eucharist, 102.
Brazen Serpent, image of the Cross, 50.
Burial of Our Lady, 190, 191, 208.
Burning bush, image of Our Lady, 79.
Cherubim, image of, 14.
Chrysostom, St John, his testimony, 83, 118, 121 ; on
the Machabees, 137 ; to Julian the Apostate, 138.
Church assailed by enemies, i .
P
214 INDEX.
Constantine, zeal for images, 126.
Cross, veneration of, 78, 130, 134.
Cyril of Alexandria, St, 121.
Cyril of Jerusalem, 137 ; to Julian the Apostate, 138.
Daniel and David, worship of, 13.
Denis the Areopagite, 10 ; on images, 31, 96.
Denis, St, of Athens, 116.
Deuteronomy, testimony of, 6, 63.
Divine things clothed in form, 99.
Egyptians, their burial, 29.
Elias taken to heaven, 166.
Eliseus, a wonder-worker, 45.
Epiphanius, St, on images, 29, 77.
Eupraxia, St, 51.
Ezechiel, his vision, 46, 128, 162.
Forty martyrs, 38, 40, 117.
Francis de Sales, St, on the Cross, 47.
Gabriel, St, sent to Mary, 157.
Godhead, not to be represented, 5, 8, 9, 14, 15, 62, 67, 98.
Gregory of Nazianzen, St, 122.
Gregory of Nyssa, St, 41.
Holy places, 109 ; things, no.
Homer, on the gods, 193.
Idolatry of Israelites, 80.
Idol worship of heathens, 77.
Images, dishonour shown to, 68, 86 ; worship of, 74, 75,
89 ; definition of, 92 ; kinds, 93, 94, 95, 97, 106, 133 ;
of saints, a fruitful worship, 112.
Invisible things through visible, n.
Isaias, his vision of God, 100; virgin foretold by, 162.
Jacob, his worship, 9, 13, 131 j typical, 27 ; receiving
Joseph's cloak, 132 ; ladder of, 161.
INDEX. 215
Jews, their proneness to idolatry, 8.
Jezabel, punishment of, 70.
Joachim, St, 154.
Jordan, stones of, 20, 97.
Joseph, worshipped by brothers, 14.
Josue, worshipped an angel, 101.
King's image, value of, 136 ; kings not legislators in the
Church, 52, 69, 76.
Latreia, worship of, 7 ; given to God alone, 64, 104, 107.
Law, image of the future, 82, 140; observances of, 18 ;
images of, 46, 49, 81, 88 ; superseded by grace, 73.
Leo of Neapolis, on the Cross, 43.
Matter not despicable, 17, 71, 72; consecrated, 127.
Mary of Egypt, St, praying to Our Lady, 51, 143, 145.
Maximus, St, his testimony, 84.
Methodius, St, on images, 145.
Moses, testimony of, 53, 60, 65 ; worships Jethor, 134.
Mother of God, 12 ; images of, 97 ; worship of, 54, 91 ;
death of, 164, 186 ; her Assumption, 166, 167, 173,
176 ; the city of God, 148 ; her praises, 150 ; her
birth, 150; her presentation, 156; her grace, 158;
her virginity, 159, 173; a spiritual Eden, 160; her
intercession, what, 169 ; the new Eden, 174 ; heaven,
175 ; her death, painless, 177 ; eye-witnesses of, 181 ;
saint of saints, 178 ; her right to worship of all, 192;
heavenly bridals of, 203 ; fountain of life, 206.
Our Lord's human birth, 194.
Persecutors of saints punished, 70.
Peter, St, chief of apostles, 26.
Pharao worshipped by Jacob, 9.
Saints, why honoured, 21, 23, 24 ; their shadow, 113 ; our
worship of, 108.
2l6 INDEX.
Scripture, true interpretation of, 66.
Severianus, on the Cross, 139.
Simon Stylites, St, venerated in Rome, 119.
Sion, what, 179
Solomon and the temple, 22, 45, 129.
Spiritual conceptions through corporeal things, 90.
Tomb of Our Lady, 196, 197, 205, 210; fairer than Eden,
204.
Tradition, ancient, 114; unwritten, 75.
Types, honourable, 142.
Worship, false, 56, 57, 58; kinds of, 104, 105, 106, 108,
in.
Live Music Archive
Librivox Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Internet Arcade
Console Living Room
Books to Borrow
Open Library
TV News
Understanding 9/11